


Family Life

by KarenHikari



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Family, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5296937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarenHikari/pseuds/KarenHikari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Right then, Alec decided to have an internal fight with his feelings. Firstly, he let his eyes soften at his boy's words and forced himself not to take the six-year-old child in his lap and tell him that of course he could stay, but he then tried to harden his gaze again and act like the responsible adult he was supposed to be—with few to no results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Family Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! Yes, I know I've been absent for a while, but I have two good excuses: 1- I had my schedule packed up because of not one, but two speech contests. And 2- Guess what? I won second place in one and first place in the other? See, it was worth it!
> 
> So, going back to the story now that everything will be going back to normal again. After reading Born to Endless Night and writing Who Could Ever? Icouldn't stop thinking about these lovely family.
> 
> You see, I had this mental image of Alec holding the baby or speaking with him and Magnus being just fabulous, and that is exactly how this story took form on its own.
> 
> I might write something else with Max and his parents, something that might include Adam Lambert because I totally love that guy, but not right now. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this!

Alec Lightwood stared at the light blue painting of the bedroom wall as he laid in the bed he shared with Magnus, dozing peacefully. That, until he heard the soft ruffling of the hinges from the door of the room and the unmistakably small steps that came after it, slow and soft enough to reveal the one walking didn't want to be discovered.

"Maxwell Lightwood what are you doing here?" Alec asked before even looking at his son as he turned on the bed, looking at the door fast enough to see Max slowly getting to his feet after he had been crawling in an attempt to not be noticed by his parents.

The child, upon knowing he had been discovered let out a surprised yelp and then, slowly, trying as hardly as he could to ignore Alec's raised eyebrow, Max jumped to the bed and slid into the covers, between Magnus' sleeping figure and Alec's inquisitive gaze.

Max took a big intake of air before answering, his chin held high and his back straightened in that cute manner that he always used whenever he thought he was doing something very important.

"Can I... Can I stay with you?" he asked, looking into Alec's eyes and trying to imagine he was brave as his daddy was whenever he went on a hunt.

Knowing what Max's question would be before the boy even said anything, Alec could only continue to look at Max inquisitively.

"Max, this is exactly why you have your own bedroom" he informed, matter-of-factly.

"But it's dark!" Max argued.

"I'm pretty sure there's a witchlight in there" Alec pointed out, feeling the beginning of a smile tugging at his lips.

"But you're not" Max pouted, pushing out his lower lip while looking at his father with something that should have looked like a plea but that seemed more like a very cute tantrum in his childish features.

Right then, Alec decided to have an internal fight with his feelings. Firstly, he let his eyes soften at his boy's words and forced himself not to take the six-year-old child in his lap and tell him that of course he could stay, but he then tried to harden his gaze again and act like the responsible adult he was supposed to be—with few to no results.

Meanwhile Alec tried to decide what to do, Magnus chose the moment to show he was awake too by turning to his left side and circle Max's shoulders, earning and excited yelp from the boy as he tickled him.

"Oh, c'mon, Alec, it'll be just for tonight, right?" the older warlock piped in cheerfully. "Tell him it'll be just for tonight" he whispered to Max in a not-very-low voice.

"Daddy?" Max chanted, his big, black eyes shining brightly in the faint light. "Please? Just tonight?"

"Magnus, that is exactly what we said last month, and the month before that, and the month before that" Alec listed. In return, Magnus just send him a disarming smile.

"Daddy?" Max repeated, blinking repeatedly just so the effect with his eyes was exaggerated. "I promise I'll stay on daddy's side of the bed and I won't kick you".

Max stared at Alec with his beaming black eyes, smiling while at the very same time managing to be pleading. Next to him, Magnus decided to do just the same and grin at the Shadowhunter, his yellowish eyes shining in the darkness.

Alec narrowed his blue orbs as he felt the weight of the two pair of begging eyes on him. Sometimes, he really wondered why he had married someone that more often than not made him feel like he had two kids instead of just one. Seriously, the only one who ever seemed to support him on these kind of arguments was the Chairman, and that was plainly because he could stay with the bed of the guests' room never mind where Max spent his night.

"Just tonight?" Magnus repeated, blinking his eyes just like Max had done three seconds before. Sometimes, Alec also wondered who was the one teaching the other to be a complete monster when it came to convince him of doing things he should not do.

Alec knew for a fact that he had lost that argument the moment he stared into Max's black eyes and smiled. A part of him ―a very distant part of him― wanted him to be the strict but loving father who would refuse to those beaming eyes and guide Max right back to his own bedroom. The other part of him ―which was the biggest one― knew he'd find himself unable to do it and would surrender. He sighed.

"Just for tonight, Max" he yielded. "And I promise you that first time you kick me I'll take you back to your room myself, get it?"

He hadn't even finished talking when Max had already jumped from where he was in the bed to give him a tiny speck on his left cheek.

"Thank you" he squeaked before rolling back into Magnus' embrace. On the boy's side, Magnus blew the Shadowhunter an exaggerated kiss. Alec simply rolled his eyes.

"Now you two go back to sleep right now because I'll be busy tomorrow and I won't allow you to sleep in, got that?" Alec ordered, faking a stern voice. And for once ―for the first time in the day, at least— Magnus and Max actually obeyed him and laid their heads on the pillows. Alec sighed softly; well, the day was over now.

Max was the first one to fall asleep, his head comfortably supported by Magnus' left shoulder, and even when the warlock followed their son soon enough, Alec still had the time to give Magnus his responsible-adult remark.

"You're pampering a potential criminal there" Alec said, as seriously as he could manage while staring into Magnus' grinning face. "And the day will come when Max will be a crazy and rebel teenager and you'll say 'Oh, Alec, what did we do wrong?' and I'll shamelessly tell you that it is your fault for allowing this kind of pampering when he was younger".

"This little guy? A crazy teenager?" Magnus asked, gently ruffling Max's hair, an adoring smile placed in his lips. "I think not. Bet he'll be just like you. The craziest thing he'll ever do will be read the second book of a series instead of the first and deliver a homework late".

"Pray for that" Alec retorted, faking he had really been offended by Magnus' comment. "Because if he turns out like you there'll be Hell to face".

Magnus chuckled, that soft, deep laugh that worked on Alec like a spell and always pulled his lips into a smile as well.

"You love me" Magnus said simply, sending him another kiss in the air, before finally deciding to close his eyes and sleep.

Alec was still trying to think in something filled with sarcasm and taunt to retort to Magnus when he realized the warlock was already asleep.

He sighed. He really needed to find a come-back to those words because Magnus always shielded behind the fact that Alec did love him whenever he wanted to get anything. And Alec never could refuse anything to that statement.

Fortunately enough, both Max and Magnus were the kind of people that fell asleep soundly as soon as they found themselves comfortable in bed, like a puppy, unlike Alec himself, who did spend around half an hour tossing and turning in the bed, concentrated in Magnus' soft breathing.

This time, just not to break the habit, his blue eyes continued to be opened even when it had been a while since Max and Magnus had fallen asleep. With his right elbow supported by his own pillow, he took those minutes of insomnia to look at the people he loved the most fondly, eyes beaming with affect.

He knew it was totally impossible for Max to fulfill his promise of only staying on Magnus' side of the bed, and the reason was simple: Magnus was part of the population that changed position in his sleep once every ten seconds, until he somehow managed to use the whole bed, which meant that, one way or the other, consciously or unconsciously, Max would end up on Alec's side of the bed. The Shadowhunter rolled his blue eyes tiredly, but the fond smile in his lips gave him away.

And there it was: after another rather violent turn from Magnus, a sleeping Max decided it was safer for him to roll on to Alec's side and nuzzle into the Shadowhunter's chest instead.

Alec smiled. He knew Max was not even scared of the dark in true, he was simply happy just by knowing his parents were there, like a puppy that wagged its tail at a pat in the head or a scratch behind its ears, he just wanted to feel his parents next to him, like the loving presences he had always known. That could be easily solved Alec thought as he circled the boy's shoulders, bringing him even closer to him before he too, decided his to-do list of the day was over and took in the comfort of sleep.

Even when the fact that they had been saying that day would be the last one they'd allow Max to stay with them for months, and even when Magnus sometimes did seem to have signed-in for being throttled, this was the life he had chosen, and this was the family he loved more than anything, Alec knew. And this was the life he wouldn't change for nothing in the world, even if that meant sleeping late more often than not.


	2. Naked Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Karen reporting bacl after a very long time!
> 
> Okay, let's start from teh beginning: this wasn't supposed to happen. Family Life was supposed to be a one-shot, but of course things never happen the way I plan them. Apparently, my mind refuses to understand that I'm buried in undone work and wants to get more pendants for me to try to finish. One of those pendants in the list will be this story.
> 
> Look, after reading Born to Endless Night , I guess that I was just too filled up with Malec fluffy feelings. And, of course, when that happenes, my mind decides to have an outburst of cute mental images. In the end, I decided that since I had so many short stories about this three in mind, I should as well mash them up together into a collection of one-shots. Which is exactly what I did.
> 
> Now, remember when I said that maybe I'd write something with this three and Adam Lambert? Well, here it is, the image was just too cute to ignore it! I totally recomend you the song, 'Naked Love' and you should also probably hear it before reading, just so you can literally get in the mood.
> 
> Anyways, I'll leave you now so you can read! ;) I really hope you enjoy it?

It all started when Magnus bought those loudspeakers that could be controlled by Bluetooth and decided it was the best invention of the XXI'st century. True was, Magnus could have played whatever music he wanted without any speakers, by using only his magic, but ever since Max had been welcomed into their family, Alec had become a little strict about "not solving mundane things with magic just because he was too lazy to it the right way".

And so Magnus had bowed down his head and started actually buying things instead of purposely ignoring its existence or magically summon whatever he wanted.

Which meant that at least once a week Magnus purchased something new that had been around for at least fifty years in the mundane world but that he had no idea it existed and then thought it was the greatest invention in the whole universe.

Well, this week it had been the loudspeakers, the one before it had been a radio and the Angel knew what in the world would be coming in the next seven days.

Normally, Alec didn't mind it—not much anyways, but it was one thing to have Magnus finding out some random speakers in the mall and another thing entirely to have them playing from day to night. Which would have been good all the same, if not because Magnus had this inconvenient habit of getting all the other innocent people around him to sing along with him.

Currently, Alec was sitting at the table with Max on his lap as he tried to feed the toddler mango purée, although the small warlock seemed to think his father's shirt was hungry too and continued getting his tiny hands into the little plate Alec held with his left hand —same that was also wrapped safely around Max's back— and then contributed to paint the shadowhunter's clothes with yellow. Not that Alec really cared or could be mad either; at this height he should know that if he appreciated his shirts he should be wearing an apron.

And meanwhile the speakers continued to reproduce one of the songs that Magnus had become attached to, about which singer's the warlock insisted in calling handsome only to enervate Alec.

Busy as he was, Alec didn't pay attention to Magnus when he exited the kitchen and entered the dining room, a steamy cup of coffee in his right, singing and dancing more than could be said he was walking. Grinning like he was in fact the singer in the middle of the concert instead of a simple spectator, dancing while successfully managing to not spill his beverage, though he didn't have much luck making Alec look away from the green spoon he was holding.

That until Magnus let his cup carefully on the table and then took Alec's left hand in his, taking the container filled of baby-food with his other hand and placing it on the table, all the while singing.

Lose control.

Collision course

When you, my love,

Call 911.

Magnus recited the first verse, pulling from Alec's arm as he forced the shadowhunter to get up, receiving a not-so-welcoming groan from the blue-eyed boy, though Max seemed delighted.

"Magnus!" Alec tried saying, but the warlock plainly ignored him, sending him a disarming smile as he continued singing. "Magnus Bane, what are you doing?"

So roll the dice.

Get lucky tonight.

I know you are holding back,

No more hesitation!

"Magnus, stop!" Alec shrieked while he gestured to sit down again, but the warlock took Max from Alec's arms and supported the baby in his left hip so that the shadowhunter's hands were free and he smirked, ignoring Alec's protests.

"C'mon, Alec, I'm sure you know the lyrics!" Magnus argued, saying first coherent words of the morning. "See, Max does have music taste!" he insisted, pointing with his head to the toddler, who was enjoying himself with laughter in his father's arms.

Just c'mon,

I want your naked love,

So don't you dress it up tonight.

Yeah, c'mon,

You know your naked love

Is what I'm dreaming of tonight.

By the time Magnus had finished singing the chorus Alec was biting his inner cheek. He surely knew the lyrics, and he wasn't self-conscious about singing. Hell, he even liked the song and the singer was in fact handsome, but still… this was not how he had imagined his morning.

And then he had the brilliant idea to look into Magnus' beaming, expectant, bewitching green eyes and knew he had lost the battle.

Take it off,

And try me on.

The hottest threads

You ever wore.

Alec recited, face red as he gripped the front part of Magnus' shirt, deciding that it was better to direct his eyes to the warlock's yellow pajama rather than to his amazing eyes before he did something stupid. Again.

Just c'mon,

I want your naked love,

So don't you dress it up tonight.

Yeah, c'mon,

You know your naked love.

Is what I'm dreaming of tonight.

Just as they finished, Alec decided to join Max and burst into laughter as he fondly circled Magnus' waist, purposely placing the purée stained part of his shirt against Magnus'.

"Alec, what's this?" he urged as soon as he noticed. "I liked this shirt!"

"Yeah, and I liked my breakfasts in silence but say that to Max" Alec pointed out simply, although he didn't try to break apart from Magnus and neither did the warlock try to push him away, baby-food in his clothing or not.

"You know, Adam Lambert will give a concert here in New York" Magnus started to say after a couple of silent minutes.

"We're not going" Alec decided immediately, walking back to his chair as Magnus did the same, sitting a laughing Max in his lap.

"Catarina said she could babysit" Magnus continued as inconspicuously as he could.

Sighing, Alec finally looked up from the plate in which he had yet to put food on and turned to Magnus. And just like that, he knew he had lost the argument. Again.

"When did you say he's coming?" he asked, surrendering to those beaming green eyes and mischievous smirk, like he already had so many times before. Next time, he'll try to remember not to marry someone he could not answer a 'no' to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, before any misunderstanding, no, I do not know whether or not if Adam is actually going to give a concert in NY soon (nor would it really matter to me because I live in Mexico anyways e.e), but I just had to put that dialogue.
> 
> On other news, yes, there will be more fluffy one-shots like the one you just read coming soon. Just... let me put some order in my head.
> 
> I think I needed to tell you something else but now I totally fogot it. Whatever. I really hope you enjoyed this, and if you did, please feel free to review! ;)
> 
> Love you all!


	3. Broken Bonds and Broken Glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, this goes for the third chapter. The inspiration for this is quite simple, really, Robert was not my chosen character all through the series, but while reading Born to Endless Night and City of Heavenly Fire I started to, somewhat like him. I just... my father is my hero, totally and absolutely, and I can't begin to imagine how terrible it must be not be able to count with your father. And, well, this mental image was just too cute not to give it a try, so here you have it!
> 
> I really hope you enjoy it!

Surprisingly enough, Magnus' loft had survived the various and very diverse parties the warlock enjoyed hosting, it was particularly odd, then, that he feared the most that his house would have a severe explosion as an uninvited guest exactly when his husband's family, decent and righteous shadowhunters, came to visit.

It was New Year's Eve, and, as it had become somewhat often to see ever since Max had entered the family, the Lightwoods were dogged on spending the holidays together.

True to say, nothing of Magnus' property had resulted victim of a sudden fire or explosion in the previous events, but he wasn't bound to rest more assured only because of that, although Alec had easily taken in the deserved peace that the house had to offer, away from the Institute and Idris, as Maryse and Robert had tacitly accorded that Alec's and Magnus' place was no-man's land and had successfully cohabited in it, doting the house with a relaxed and festive attitude.

This one time, Clary, Isabelle, Simon and Alec where sitting at the living room, glasses with soda and whisky placed in front of them —true was that Magnus could fear for his property, but he surely was not a stingy host and he liked serving for his guests, which meant that every time that his family-in-law dropped by to visit, they could find beverages with different and very various colors for them to drink, but the family really preferred not to know what those bright things could do to them, especially Simon, who had decided that, as it was impossible to refuse Isabelle's invitation to go with her, he always presented himself in Magnus' loft with a bottle of water and never trusted anything that the warlock offered to him if either Alec or Isabelle didn't assure was safe before.

In the kitchen, talking animatedly, were Magnus and Maryse, and in between both rooms, Jace and Robert kept discussing something that sometimes seemed a battle strategy and sometimes a scold at Jace's stubbornness.

What hung in the air was a nice atmosphere, homely, almost endearing, with animated conversations that filled the house with either laughter or sarcastic comments. Although it was also true that in the middle of the whole reunion, precisely the star of the party had decided it was naptime and had been successfully placed in his cradle by Magnus, the Chairman keeping watch safely in front of the door.

Around seven o'clock in the afternoon Jace and Clary announced that they were leaving to Jocelyn's place to spend whatever was left from the day with her and Luke.

What cut Alec's attention on what Simon was saying wasn't even the fact that —as it happened more often than not— he had lost the younger boy's rambling long ago, not finding himself able to link one of the things he was saying with the other, but the distant start of a cry he'd come to recognize so well in the last months that forced him to interrupt Simon and encourage him to list all those interesting reasons to go to the theatre and watch the new movie of Star Wars to Isabelle meanwhile he was busy with his very own responsibilities.

When he reached the light-brown door that designed Max's bedroom he was surprised to find it slightly opened, the Chairman gone. He didn't think any of it until he entered the room and distinguished a figure leaning down into the baby's cradle.

"Father?" he asked, noting the way in which Robert —whom he hadn't noticed leaving the reunion at all— let his right hand fall into Max's bed and caressed the baby's chubby face, to the young warlock's delight.

"Alec!" Robert nodded, slightly surprised, only raising his head for a millisecond over his shoulder before turning back to his grandson. "He didn't need anything" he started to explain. "Just called for attention, you know, like to know he wasn't alone".

Still puzzled by his father's actions, but incapable of not recognizing the fondness in Robert's voice either, Alec couldn't help but smile himself.

"Alright then" the younger said, placing himself on the opposite side of the cradle from which his father stood, looking down at Max's bright black eyes.

"You used to do that a lot when you were younger" Robert informed, smiling dreamily, out of place as it sounded. "Cry when you were left alone just so someone came to keep an eye on you".

"I see" Alec nodded, feeling touched by the mere way in which his father looked down at his baby, tracing his childish features with the tips of his fingers, making the boy laugh cheerily and try to catch his grandfather's hand. He inwardly cursed his own cockiness. Maybe Jace was right and the whole adoption thing had turned him into a softie.

"He has a beautiful laugh" Robert pointed out gently, finally raising his eyes to meet his son's.

"He does" Alec nodded simply, returning the smile to his father, just before he brought both his arms into the cradle and raised Max, supporting the boy on his hip as he straightened himself.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and time seemed to stop. Alec kept the smile in his lips, taking in the thoughtful expression of his father's features until Robert's smile slowly faded and he turned his gaze to the floor before raising it again almost shyly.

"I... Alec..." he started to stutter, before stopping to clear his voice. "I'm proud of you" he finally managed, smiling. "I know it doesn't seem so most of the time, but I am, you've managed great things and I... I'm glad for you, Alexander, I am. When you were younger, I always thought that you'd be the greatest fighter, but then it didn't happen. You became something better, bigger, greater. You became the bravest shadowhunter I've ever met" he assured clumsily, almost tripping over his own words. Immediately, Alec's eyes softened.

"Father—"

"No, I'm serious" Robert cut him off. "You've done so great things with so little it's admirable. And I'm proud of you".

And so, neither could Alec help nor did he want to stop the smile that formed in his lips.

"Thank you" he said, almost whispering, somehow managing to say it all.

Robert smiled, more with his eyes than he did his lips and nodded solemnly; when he extended his hand for Alec to shake, the gesture didn't even seem impersonal or too formal. It was already enough seeing how Robert had strained to get the words out for Alec to ask more from his father and, especially, what would he ask for when the one thing that he'd craved to hear for so long had already been said?

It was only then that Alec noted distantly that he could feel his eyes wetting and remembered the long-learned lesson that men weren't supposed to cry. It was also then that he noted that Robert's eyes were in the verge of watering too and both of them decided to fake their obliviousness.

What brought the two of them back to Earth was the sound of glass crashing and the immediate complaints of Magnus, reprimanding Simon for his carelessness and Isabelle's attempts to defend his boyfriend.

"That clumsy vampire" Robert murmured turning to the door.

"True to say, he's not a vampire anymore. He's about to transcend, you know" Alec pointed out simply.

"Still" his father muttered. "One of these days he'll be responsible for greater damages than broken silverware, I'm sure".

"Good news the Force isn't with him then" Alec said; when Robert turned looking at him inquisitively all he could do was hold back his laughter and deny with his head.

As they both directed to the living room again, Max still laughing in Alec's arms although he had no idea of what his father was laughing at, Alec couldn't help but think that a couple of broken glasses was nowhere near what he was bound to sacrifice to repair the broken bonds life had scattered over the years. Maybe broken silverware was even little compared to what they were getting in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, please tell me, how did that go.
> 
> By the way, I'm part of thet 1% of people who did not watch Star Wars (don't hate me). I watched one movie and that's it, but, well, I've been watching the tarilers and it seemed proper to have Simon babling about the series. I'm considering watching it now that I'm older, but I've been wuite busy lately.
> 
> Anyways, this is going to be a multi-chapter story, so expect an update in around a week.
> 
> I'm also considering to open prompts for this story. Until now, I have around ten plots of my own, but, well, this are your characters too so, I'm thinking, how about if you have a mental image you want to see with these three or with their family and friends, you leave it in the comment section? You tell me if you're interested.
> 
> Read you soon! ;)


	4. Such a Blue Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm sorry for the delay, I swear to you that I've had this story finished for more than two weeks, but school and life had prevented me of publishing.
> 
> Okay, this plainly revolves around a bad, a very bad pun, and my friend -that one I'm always talking to you about- and I decided to keep away from this collection of one-shots, but while we read The Magnus Bane Chronicles I decided that, hey, Cassie made fun of Ragnor's skin color so (and although I know she owns the series and I do not) I decided that well, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.
> 
> By the way, although this one-shots are not really related to each other and have no actual order I'd like to pin-poin that in this one Max is older than in the previous one, around twelve, thirteen years old.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy it!

If there was one thing that Maxwell Lightwood hated, that was going to Idris. It wasn't that the Clave insisted in treating his family as inferior, it wasn't that he disliked the other shadowhunters, it was plainly and simply that he had better things to do than to go to Alicante and spend his time staring at the wall during endless meetings.

But, having the parents he had more often than not he ended up in Idris.

As a child, it been easier for Alec and Magnus to convince him to 'go visit his grandfather' by offering him an ice cream or a new toy, but they were talking about a teenager now, and they had to throw arguments about something. And oh, how had they fight about their coming trip to Alicante.

Currently, they were sitting to the table, eating and enjoying a little break on the matter thanks to the fact that Catarina had come over for supper.

That until Max oh, so timely and appropriate opened his mouth.

"Dad, do we seriously, seriously, have to go to Idris?" he asked suddenly, putting his spoon down, to what Alec could only sigh softly.

"Max, we've been through this before. You know we have to do it" the shadowhunter muttered, praying to the Angel that Max didn't make a scene right in Catarina's presence.

"Dad, but the place always makes me feel so blue!" Max retorted with a mischievous grin placed across his lips.

It took Magnus almost thirty seconds to understand Max's inner joke; when he did, he almost fell off his chair with laughter. Alec was simply at a loss of words.

"I can't believe you just said that" Alec muttered, sighing as he hid his face behind his hands.

"C'mon, dad, it-"

"This is your fault" Alec accused, pointing straight at Magnus' chest with his index, still debating about whether if he was mad or only surprised. "Instead of nagging him you are just encouraging him!" he cried.

"C'mon, Alec, it was a good one!" Magnus corroborated, parting his son's back in approval.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe you both!" Alec continued in a sigh, which also caused Catarina to giggle.

"Oh, dad, I know you want to laugh too!" Max urged, faking innocence.

"I want to kick you both out" Alec replied, still covering his face. "Now, say you're sorry to your aunt" he ordered, pointing to the female warlock.

"Dad..."

"Do as I say, c'mon" Alec cut him, although he didn't seem so serious when Magnus and Catarina herslef were openly laughing next to him.

"Aunt Cat" Max started. "I'm very, very sorry that I just ridiculed and made fun of our physical appearance because it was convenient for me to do it. I'm sorry if I offended you, my ultimate objective was plainly to avoid going to Idris and not anything else. Which apparently I didn't achieve" he continued, which only caused the remaining two warlocks to laugh harder.

"Well, at least now I know what to say when I don't want to go to work but I'm not sick either" Catarina offered, still giggling.

"It has to be a warlock thing" Alec let out in disbelief, finally letting a smile climb to his lips.

"Oh, you love us" Magnus chanted playfully.

"Mom said 'Don't marry a warlock, they are unpredictable', 'Don't raise a warlock child with Magnus Bane, something will go wrong and you know it', but did I listen? No, of course I didn't" he continued to complain, though the fond smile in his lips said otherwise.

"You still love us" Magnus corroborated, sending him a kiss. Alec couldn't even think of denying that part. It was simply true.

And with that statement, the four of them finally burst into laughter.

"You know you are still going to Idris nevertheless, right?" Alec inquired once the silence came back. "And because of this now you'll be staying the whole week with your grandfather".

"Was worth it" Max replied, grimacing a little.

"We'll see if you see that at the end of the week" Magnus pointed out, deciding to finally support his husband in something. For a change only.

When a week later Magnus and Max were still laughing at the incident Alec decided that there really was no point in arguing anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, how did that go?
> 
> About Max not wanting to go to Idris and before you say anything about whether or not the otehr Shadowhunters are mean to him I want to say that I do believe that maybe things will have changed and although I'm aware that such a gigantic difference won't become a reality as soon as we'd want, I did not want to go all the way there with this story. What I meant is plainly that: when you are young and rebel you do not want to go to your parents' compromises, let's face it.
> 
> On other news, I just want to share something with you. This month it makes exactly three years (from February 2013) since I wrote my first story, a fanfic called “Campanas” (Bells, in English) for the show Death Note.
> 
> At the moment I had no idea of how big this would be and neither did I know that this was my first step to a whole new chapter of my life.
> 
> I decided that I had to do something special to commemorate this date and I thought that nothing would be better than becoming closer to you, the readers, who in the end are the ones who have supported me, who ask me to continue doing this (I wouldn’t be able to stop even if you asked me to, so it’s my honor that at least you like my work), and who are the ones who make this worth it.
> 
> Wanting to make my communication with you readers better I decided to open a Facebook account dedicated to fanfiction (wunder the name of Karen Hikari too) in which you will be able to see what story I plan to update soon, my plans for the month and a lot more of things!
> 
> As always, thank you, thank you to all those followers, to the ones who have read, commented, added to favorites. I do this thanks to and for you and, in all honesty, I owe myself to you, so this is just another way to extend my gratitude to you lovely people.
> 
> I’m telling you from this moment, that this page will be madness, because as I have written stories both in English and Spanish, I have followers that speak both languages, so you’ll see me translating each and every note I write. Let’s hope this doesn’t crash and burn too bad!
> 
> And, as always, read you soon!


	5. To Leave or Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess, who's publishing this chapter on time? That's right! Karen is!
> 
> See, I already had this story written, it was like the second or third chapter I wrote down, but I waited to publish it because it seemed very similar to the first chapter, Family Life, so I wanted to pust some stories in between them.
> 
> Finally, the time has come for you to read it!

What woke Alec up was a trembling voice.

"Dad?" he heard, as a tiny hand gripped his left sleeve and tugged at it.

Forcing the sleep away from his eyes, he managed to raise his head from Magnus' chest and focused them on the boy in front of him. Alec absently heard the distant murmur of the television and, yawning, the shadowhunter reached for the remote control —same that had fallen to the floor at some point— and turned it off.

They were in the living room, in which Magnus and Alec had stayed until late after putting Max to sleep, watching a series that hadn't been quite successful at keeping them awake.

He smiled at his son, still straining to keep his eyes open.

Max was already two years old, with his big, black eyes and generally obedient ways, he was an easy boy to have around most of time. He was cheerful, talkative and... and he was crying, Alec noted, finally washing the drowsiness away and jumping out of the couch so he could kneel in front of the toddler.

"Hey, what happened?" he asked gently as he took Max's hands in his, looking into those hazed eyes he loved so much worriedly.

"I-I had a bad dream" Max stuttered. "But when I went to your room you weren't there and I-I thought you had left" he managed to explain through his ragged breathing.

"We wouldn't leave our little blueberry, would we?" Alec said, smiling fondly, but as all answer Max only renewed his crying. "C'mere" he offered, taking the boy into his arms before standing up. "See, your father is still here, snoring like a bear" he assured, pointing at Magnus with his head; that at least managed to make Max laugh, but soon enough he was circling Alec's neck fearfully, as if to convince himself that his father was not going to disappear.

Alec simply let him do, tightening his hold around the toddler in a silent assurance of support.

"It's okay, see?" he started to murmur after a while, feeling the boy in his arms slowly losing the tension of his muscles at the sound of his soothing voice. "It's okay".

To be fair, this wasn't something that happened very often, so all that Alec could do was walk through the darkened corridors of the house until he reached Max's bedroom, bouncing him gently —like Robert had instructed him to do— and still whispering reassurances from time to time.

It took around ten minutes until Max had completely calmed down, which Alec could say as the despaired sobs that bothered his son slowly started to diminish, until they finally stopped. However, he didn't lessen in the least his arms around Max's body and continued to sway him gently from side to side as he, too, walked in circles around the boy's room.

Only some minutes later, Alec knew that Max had fallen asleep because of the rhythmic intakes of breath that he felt tickle in the crook between his neck and left shoulder —where Max had supported his head— let him feel.

The shadowhunter couldn't help the soft smile that lit his features, and after gently ruffling his boy's hair, he finally directed himself to the bed in the middle of the room and tucked Max in.

He took a moment to look at his boy and wiped away the dry traces of tears from his cheeks, smiling down at him.

It was only then that the painful realization hit him—this boy, sweet and cheerful as he was had been abandoned. It had been years in the past, Max didn't have a way of knowing, Magnus and he had never given him any reasons to be afraid of being forsaken, then why... why was it that he feared it?

Soon enough, Alec found himself smiling with a sad expression instead of a peaceful one.

Maybe Max didn't consciously know it, he wasn't aware of what had happened, but... Alec really couldn't say that such a fear was unjustified. Max was lucky, he had been left at the doorstep in which decent people lived, and not monsters that wouldn't have second-thought ignoring the baby and leaving him outside for him to fend for himself like, well, pretty much the one who had left him there in the first place. He had been found by people who were bound to take him in and to look after him the way he deserved, and, more importantly, he was loved, he was loved. No matter what had happened in the past, no matter what his biological family had done, no matter what the Council had to say on the matter, he was loved, and that was the one thing that Alec was sure of.

"It's okay now, Max. It won't ever happen, I promise" he whispered, kneeling next to the bed just so he could lean down to press a soft kiss into Max's forehead. And it was then that he was forced to dwell on how he couldn't promise such a thing, and not because he didn't want to, but because he plainly couldn't do it.

He would leave, not because he wished to do it, not willingly, but he would. He would leave when Death called to his door, when his mortal life met his end, and Alexander Lightwood, better than anyone, knew that the long-feared Death couldn't be avoided, maybe postponed, maybe fooled, but not avoided, and when it came, he would have to answer the call, and leave, leave behind whatever he had loved, his friends, his family, Magnus, his son...

It had been a while ever since such dark thoughts had dared to cross his mind, and he had become very successful at pushing them away too, but suddenly they were back, stronger than ever. And he knew, just as certainly, that once his mind started wandering, there was no way to stop it from reaching conclusions that he was better without.

Alec bit his lip in worry and stood up, gulping sadly before he directed himself to the entrance of the room to return to the living room and the couch. He had almost reached the doorknob when he suddenly stopped and turned on his heels, walking right back to the bed his son laid in and decided to change his plans for the night.

Carefully, he managed to make a space for him in the mattress and slid into it; he hadn't even placed the coves over him, when Max had already moved from his previous spot and into his chest, still sleeping, a soft smile placed on his lips.

Sighing fondly, Alec circled Max's shoulders with both his arms and leaned on the headboard, his thoughts still racing.

He knew it was almost hypocrite of him to complain about the fact that he had decided to surround himself with immortal creatures when he was a mortal; he had chosen that life, every part of it—and he knew he wouldn't change it, not for all the gold in the world, not for all the Angel's power. He'd made his move, and he enjoyed it, as painful as he knew the ending would be.

But he could choose this one time too. Maybe he had no saying on when or where or why he'd leave, and he had none because if he could have, he'd chosen not to say his farewells at all, but dutiful as he was, he knew that such a thing wasn't possible.

And yet he could still choose what to do with the time he had left. He only had the then and there, the right now, and he could choose. And every time, every single time until his very own time on Earth was over, he'd chose to stay, to stay with the people who loved him, who needed him; to stay with the people he loved back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I know this is a lot sadder than the other chapters are, but I just couldn't keep the image of Alec holding baby Max to his chest while fearing for his own death it's kindof... bittersweet, if you ask me, and very cute.
> 
> So, good news for you to forgive me, spring break is coming and, hopefully, I will be able to write and publish a bunch of things during this period of time! Also, I finally managed to get my things together and my pendants list seems to be going fine, which means I can actually promise the next chapter in two weeks from now!
> 
> Read you soon! :3


	6. Irresponsible Vacations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful people! Guess who owes you an apology? That's right! Karen does!
> 
> You see, I know that I had promised to be a lot more active during this spring break, but the thing is that I haven't had a minute of rest, and yet my pendant list is as long as ever! As you might have noticed already, I'm a little of a workaholic, and well, DeviantArt and Wattpad were organizing this contest called Twist Fate challenge, the idea was awesome, you had to publish a work in which you transformed a hero into a villain and viceversa. Being the nice perosn I am I decided to participate... four times. That's where my time has been going.
> 
> Now, at least I'm still on time to publish this chapter in the week when I said I would!
> 
> Enjoy your reading!

After reading hundreds of books on the matter, surviving the first years and watching a whole other bunch of documentaries, Magnus had learned something: parenthood was hard.

It was especially hard with a baby warlock running around and Alec being… Alec, overprotecting, super-concerned, fussy Alec.

However, and nevertheless that often times Alec did not believe he could handle a baby on his own, once in a while the shadowhunter would trust him enough to leave Max solely under his watch.

And that was when parenthood became even harder, because if something happened, he had no one to ask for help if he screwed up. Not that he screwed up often, but still.

Like that day, for example, in which Alec had offered them to go down to the beach on their own while he stayed in the hotel room and overslept for what could have been the first time in his life, while Magnus almost lost their son.

But, long story short, everything was alright, nothing had happened, and Alec should never know what had happened and/or the potential consequences of it.

"Okay, we are not going to say what happened to your father, right?" Magnus asked, kneeling in front of his son so he could stare into the toddler's black eyes.

"No, papa!" the boy obediently responded.

"And if your dad asks what we did, what will you tell him?" he inquired again.

"We were making sandcastles!" Max replied, nodding repeatedly, to prove Magnus he had understood.

"That's right, blueberry!" Magnus accepted, giving a beaming smile to his son before he opened the door, silently hoping Alec was still sleeping.

Which was not the case, he realized as soon as he stepped inside and Alec rushed to their side.

"How are you, guys?" he asked, leaning down to kiss Max's forehead, which sent the boy giggling.

"Good morning!" Magnus piped in, sending a disarming smile, praying that Alec didn't ask where they had been.

"What did you do?" the shadowhunter continued to interrogate.

"Sandcastles!" Max replied, true to his word.

"Sandcastles?" Alec inquired with skepticism. "Then why are your hairs wet?"

"Because… because…" Magnus stuttered. "You see, we…"

"We went diving!" Max said, accusing his father.

"You did what?" the shadowhunter inquired, already scandalized.

"No, no, no! We didn't!" Magnus tried, attempting to place himself between Alec and Max, but the shadowhunter continued to pay attention to the four-year-old and utterly ignored him.

"Where were you, Max?" he asked.

"We went diving!" the boy repeated, smiling innocently; and that was the moment Magnus Bane knew he was doomed.

"Did you?" Alec continued. "And did you see many fishies?"

"We did!" Max nodded. "And there was this animal with huge eyes and it was terribly slow! And then papa lost me for some minutes and he was hysteric and…"

"What?" Alec inquired in disbelief. "Your father did what?!"

"Enough!" Magnus interrupted suddenly, forcing an easy-going grin as he faced Alec's piercing gaze, covering Max's mouth with his right hand. "That's enough sugar for you, little one!"

"Magnus Bane, is there something you want to explain?" the shadowhunter asked sternly.

"Um… no?" the warlock tried, only to then to the floor.

"How about you start with this 'my father lost me for some minutes and he was going hysteric' if you don't mind" Alec insisted, critically staring at the son of Asmodeus.

"No such thing… alright, it happened" Magnus accepted in a sigh, noting Alec's murderous gaze. "We went diving, oh, so much fun, I turn away for a second and then Max is not where I left him. I start looking for him, but he's nowhere to be seen and everything, absolutely everything around us was blue! I'm not gonna lie at you, I panicked!"

"Magnus Bane!" Alec roared between disbelief and anger. "You took our son to the sea with no other protection than you and your big head and then lost him? Do you have any idea of what could have happened? What if he'd drowned or―?"

"Yes, yes, yes" Magnus cut him rapidly, trying to stop Alec from really imagining the outlook and murdering him. "But then suddenly, I turn to the shore and there is this little devil, sitting in the sand, safe and sound and smiling".

"So you thought that if you didn't tell me it'd be alright, you irresponsible jerk?" Alec inquired, for once not minding his language.

"I'm taking this low-blow because I want to tell you that today I learned something" Magnus offered, shooting his most apologetic look. "I need you and I'm thankful that you are with me and that I can rely on you".

Blinking back his complete speech about responsibility, Alec sighed.

"I want to hear that you're sorry" the shadowhunter demanded.

"I'm deeply, very, utterly sorry that my irresponsible thoughts and actions turned out to be so dangerous" Magnus offered, grinning as he approached Alec to hug him against the shadowhunter's will, who tried to push him away at first but finally surrendered.

"Idiot" he muttered against Magnus' ear in a low voice before they broke apart. "Now, I'm proud of you for being honest" he continued, kneeling in front of Max. "Your father is a big dum-dum, so how about we leave him here grounded and we go to eat breakfast and then we can have some ice cream?" he proposed, for the boy's delight.

"But I wanted ice cream!" Magnus complained in a faked childish tantrum.

"Yeah, but you don't deserve it and Max does" Alec pointed out, as if saying the sky was blue, already reaching for the doorknob with his left hand, having taken Max's hand in his right.

And that was the story of how the next time Magnus suggested going to the beach for vacations, Alec refused to until Max turned older, which ended up with them going to Montana once every year. So that Max was easy to spot surrounded by green trees instead of blue water in case he got lost.

Well, that and the fact that Alec never really trusted Magnus to take care of Max outside of their loft again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what can I say about this story? It was just too irresistable! I'm sorry, Magnus, you know I love you! Anyways, what do you think about it? You know what they say, no bullying means no friendship!
> 
> So... can I ask you a favor beautiful people? You see, if you could just go and check my Wattpad account (Karen Hikari, just the same) or my DeviantArt page (KareninaHikari) I'd be really, really thankful! I promise you won't be disappointed! The stories participating in the contest are "A Blessing and a Curse" (for The Little Mermaid), "It Was She" (for The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods), "To Both Sanity and Madness" (for Snow White and the Seven Dawrfs) and "Shine in the Dark" (for Hades and Persephone). Please, please, pleas, I'm begging you!
> 
> In other news, the next chapter of this story will be out in two weeks or so, I promise!
> 
> Also, be sure to check my Facebook account (Karen Hikari, with a girl reading while wearing red glasses) for more updates and news!
> 
> I love you and... read you soon!


	7. Didn't Matter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful people! Right from the folder of pendants we have the seventh chapter of this story! 
> 
> Okay, I need to sleep more, sorry! You see, I'm just buried under pendant work right now (yeah, I know that you're going to say "isn't that how yo always are?", but just let me have my moment, alright?). See, I have a contest coming for next week and some other things and classwork and 27 pages to transwrite and... I'm a little tired at the moment, but hey, at least I'm publishing this on time, right?
> 
> Well, the explanation for this chapter is easy and almost comical: my friend (the one who is always helping me with these things)were talking about if warlocks changed color as they grew, so the idea for it making it to this collection of one-shots appeared. "It would be nice to have someone ask it, wouldn't it?" At first we thought about Izzy, but then we decided to go for Robert because, really, after what he asked Magnus in Born to Endless Night it's not even bizarre to imagin him inquiring this!
> 
> Alright, enough of me, I'll let you read!

Robert Lightwood was many things, but no one, not ever, would have dares ay that he was foolish. Oh no, he was a fighter, a leader, a warrior―he wasn't amused easily, he wasn't taken by surprise, he wasn't impressed. End of the story.

Unless of course that the matter concerned his grandson, then Robert Lightwood was a box of surprises and his whole family had yet to realize that.

A colorful example of that issue was that one time in which they had gathered at Magnus and Alec's loft and Robert had decided to… show off his chemistry skills.

They were sitting at the living room, distributed in two different couches, with Maryse, Isabelle and Simon situated at one and Jace, Magnus and Robert sitting on the other one. At the same time, Isabelle was holding Max in her knees and Clary was sitting on the floor, with her flexed legs under her; Alec, on his side, kept traveling from the living room to the kitchen so often that he had given up a seat and was now standing next to his father, who was showing a deep interest in the tea cup he held in his hands.

"Is it like that for warlocks, Magnus?" Robert asked suddenly, still not raising his gaze from the amber liquid.

"Excuse me?" Magnus uttered in astonishment as the voices and laughter died behind him, everyone wearing confused gazes and furrowed brows.

"I mean, when the demon trait on a warlock is the color of his skin, does it happen like it does with coffee or tea?" he inquired, finally meeting gazes with his son-in-law.

"I beg your pardon?" the warlock repeated, blinking in confusion.

"Like, you know when you have your coffee and then you pour milk into it or more water into a cup of tea and the color diminishes?" Robert explained, which only caused them all to become even more confused and wonder whether or not if there was a problem with what Robert was drinking.

"You mean the dissolution?" Alec inquired, taking a seat on the armrest next to his father. "The chemistry phenomenon?"

"No, no, no!" the older shadowhunter refused, shaking his head repeatedly. "I mean, yes, but how about that warlock friend of yours, Miss Catarina Loss, her skin is blue too, isn't it, but it's a lot lighter than Max's, see?" he pointed out, but his explanation only made his family worry more for his sanity.

"Yes, so?" Isabelle inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"What I'm asking is, does it happen like this when a warlock whose demon trait is the skin color grows? Does the color changes and becomes softer as he ages or something?"

Finally understanding what Robert was asking, Magnus gasped in realization… although that didn't mean that he knew the answer any better, for as far as he'd known Catarina she'd always been the same color—not that he minded or payed attention to such a thing, really.

"No…?" Magnus started to say as he reached in his memories for any in which his friend had been of a more intense color.

"What kind of question is that?" Simon whispered to Clary, who nodded in agreement, shuddering.

On her side, Maryse seemed to be in deep thought, considering Robert's words closely, exhaustively. Alec appeared just… done.

Before any of the adults could answer or even figure out a comeback good enough to please Robert's demands, Max suddenly jumped from Isabelle's lap and awkwardly stumbled his grandfather's way, until he finally reached Robert and gestured to pick him up.

Holding back a sigh, the shadowhunter smiled softly and leaned down to place his cup in the coffee table.

"It doesn't matter" he muttered, taking the toddler in his arms to place him in his lap while the boy shrieked in delight.

"Perhaps you can all try such a hypothesis with Max" Jace proposed, although Maryse and Isabelle had already resumed their previous conversation.

"Doesn't matter" the shadowhunter repeated, smiling down at his grandson fondly as he tickled him, provoking excited squeaks.

Behind his father, Alec rolled his eyes, even when the easy smile on his lips gave him away. Seriously, had someone told him this would be a regular sight for him he'd believed that someone was crazy, but there he was and there they were, and this was home and it felt right.

Who knew, maybe it really didn't matter after all, no stupid question and no physical aspect when there was love in between. Which he'd made sure to have when it came to his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, too cheesy! Just let me have my fluff!
> 
> By the way and before I forget, I think that I've written enough of this story with Robert and it makes me think "Hey you, where is Maryse supposed to be?" So, before you start complaining about that, I've been meaning to write soemthing with her, but I just don't seem to find a plot, so, if any of you do, please feel free to put it on the comment section!
> 
> Well, I gues that's all for now! I really hope you liked it and please don't forget to comment! Love ya'!


	8. Mundane Celebrations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, beautiful people! I'm not yet dead! I'm sorry for the very, very late update! I swear that I've had this chapter written down for ages, but as you know I'm really old-fashioned and my drafts are always by hand, so I hadn't had time of transcribing, which caused trouble, whoch is a nightmare.
> 
> The reason I've been so absent from any social media is that, point number one, I had my prom, point number two, exames were coming, and point number three, once those two were over I was too sleep-deprived to actually get through any of my works efficiently. Right now I have 50 pages pendant for transcribing and everything is madness, but at least vacations are here, so at least I have that comfort. I promise I will be a lot more active from now on.
> 
> So, with no further ado (my two-month dissapearence has been enough, I suppose), I'll leave you to read!

To say that mundanes had bizarre traditions was an understandment for shadowhunters. To say that some shadowhunters once in a while happened to participate in those celebrations was… a surprise, to say the least.

This was only one of the reasons as to why the New York Institute was terribly unique. It also explained why they were throwing a reunion ―yes, party sounded too vulgar― with the motif of Halloween. Yes, the Lightwood family was about to celebrate a pagan tradition.

Truth to be told, this was just another one of the Lightwood's attempt to share some time and bring their family together. Ever since Magnus and Alec had taken Max into their life a tacit consent had been signed by the whole family, and they were now about to take any opportunity of gathering. Really, the reason was of no importance, they could have been celebrating the beginning of December and it wouldn't have mattered.

Although, honestly, those reunions ended up being weirder than when planned more often than not.

This one in particular seemed to be about to break a record, as they had decided to follow the mundane example and wear disguises.

None of them really stopped to think how bad things could go until Alec actually appeared in the Institute, wearing a perfectly white tunic, an aureus something in his head and fake wings, holding Max's hand, who was looking just as ridiculous, wearing tiny white pants and a crooked hat the same color to emulate those blue dwarfs Robert was sure he'd seen somewhere on TV.

Sparing his son a skeptic glance, Robert decided to be the first one to ask out the obvious.

"Alexander, are you kidding?" he questioned, in response to everyone's confused fazes. On his side, the boy could only grimace.

"Don't even ask" he answered with resignation. "It's about to get worse".

Unfortunately, Robert had no time to ask what would get worse, because right after his son, Magnus Bane entered the building, wearing a red tunic very similar to Alec's and a plastic hairband that represented two black devil-like horns.

After an amused silence, Jace took it upon herself to break the ice with a loud laughter.

"Dude, I can't believe you're doing that!" he let out, covering his face with his hands as he continued to laugh. "Seriously, Alec?"

"For you information, blondie, we―" Magnus started to explain, but only to be interrupted by Alec.

"I lost a bet" the shadowhunter cleared, finally giving himself the time to look around the room and check out the other's costumes. "Apparently I was not the only one" he pointed out, noticing Jace's own clothes.

Smiling with mischief, Magnus took Max's hand from Alec's and, nodding at Robert in recognition and then directed to the kitchen to greet Maryse, whom he assumed was there, as he didn't see her in the living room.

Alec firstly took note of Clary's costume, a black-and-gray suit that she accompanied with a pin that represented a funny bird and a quiver, which arrows the Lightwood could only describe as useless―the only reason he recognized her was because Simon and Clary had been throwing a fuss over the movie of who that Evergreen girl was.

Right beside her, Jace was dressed as the girl's boyfriend.

"You won this one, dude, I'll leave you alone" the blond boy nodded in surrender, for Clary's delight.

Deciding he didn't look all that ridiculous, Alec took a seat next to Simon, whose costume the shadowhunter didn't recognize, but plainly assumed it had something to do with Star Wars, as Isabelle was wearing Princess Leia's dress―which he thankfully picked up due to Simon's excitement when the new movie came out. Only then did he actually dwell on how he had no idea of what Robert was pretending to be.

"Dad, so… what are you, if you don't mind me asking?" Alec finally inquired, simply out of curiosity.

"Isn't it obvious?" Robert replied, pointing to his suit in disbelief; Alec only raised an eyebrow. "I'm a butler!" he informed, almost whined in a gesture that was really unlike what one expected from an experimented warrior. Only then did his son take notice of the black apron his father wore around his waist and of the white cloth he was holding.

"Anyways" the blue-eyed Lightwood smiled, deciding not to hurt his father's feelings. "Where's mom?"

"Kitchen, maybe" Jace replied when it became obvious that Robert had no idea. "Or the dining room".

"She's a witch" Robert added.

"Dad" Alec said sternly, the mood turning darker for a moment.

"No, I'm serious" the older replied innocently as he pointed to the entrance of the room, where Maryse had appeared holding a delighted Max while she talked enthusiastically with Magnus. True to be said, she was wearing a black old-fashioned dress and a crooked hat. There was also a broomstick next the door.

"I'm telling you, you could have asked us to borrow the Chairman, perhaps I could paint him black" the warlock was saying with a mischievous smile.

"Maybe next year" Maryse replied, holding back laughter. "It's nice to see you, honey" she greeted, turning to Alec as she took a seat between Clary and Simon, interrupting their conversation.

And that was how the first Lightwood Halloween meeting began.

Later that night, as they were half way through a movie that was supposed to scare them did they realize that it was useless for that mundane crap to try to bring terror to well-experimented soldiers.

Sincerely, this was boring, they discovered, which, somehow, ended up being a good reason to start laughing. Perhaps mundane celebrations really weren't for everyone.

On the other side, it was also true that maybe the next time they tried to celebrate something mundane-based they should try with something that didn't include fake monsters when they genuinely fought demons.

Who knew, perhaps the only real point of all these mundane parties and celebrations was to have fun and, judging by the made-up features and home-made costumes of his family, Alec Lightwood could tell that, apart from making a fool of themselves, they actually were having fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a few more notes that I didn't want to leave up there: you know that I don't like doing specials, mostly because I always stumble with my own works and time never helps me, so I never manage to get my things done on time. Also, I don't really care about them, so if I feel like publishing something about Halloween in July (this was supposed to be out on May anyways, so...) I plainly do it.
> 
> Also, it was hard to think their costumes through! This idea first appeared because I wanted something that included Robert and Maryse with a bit of humor, and a friend of mine mentioned Magnus' and Alec's disguise. And, of course, there's the headcanon of Max and a smurf costume, but that was all I had, and the other's desguises were a pain to think. I hope at least I managed to make them not so ridiculous.
> 
> I really, really hope this was worth the long wait, and I promise I wil ltry to be more active, although I will start updating once eveery three weeks instead every two, so I don't fail you.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading until now and... read you soon!


	9. Like Father, Like Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, guys, I'm so ashamed! I can't even begin to explain how terribly sorry I am that... that I turned my back on you like this and... oh, dear, the worst of all is that I've had this chapter ready for its publication for months and life just hasn't allowed me to come near fanfiction. I actually feel like I'm missing a part of me because I haven't been able to keep in touch with you like I would have wanted (like I crave for). I have almost stopped writing because of school and that is frustrating because fanfiction is very relaxing for me and it's something I'm very passionate about.
> 
> I'll tell you what, in August of this year I started High school, which of course means less time for me to write, but that's not al of it. I also signed-in for karate, dancing, writing and composing, Japanese and Latin lessons. This is the truth behind my late updates and my disappearance.
> 
> To be honest, all those extra classes really drain me, apart from leaving me nearly to no time for writing. This is why I had to step back a little from my passion, which is writing. I've missed publishing a story on a weekly basis, and most of all, I miss you guys, but right now I can't do more. Although, don't worry, I wouldn't be able to stop doing this, even if I tried (which of course, I'm not doing). None of my stories will be abandoned and neither will be my account. Updates will only become slower, for which I'm truly sorry.
> 
> On happier news, the holidays are finally here, and that means I shall be here more. I promise (this time, I do promise), chapter 10 will be here next week.
> 
> For now... I really hope you enjoy this little something!

Like Father, Like Son

If Alexander had something to say about what he'd learned during the years he'd spent living with Magnus Bane, that was the sureness that nothing, nothing was too weird when it came to the cat-eyed warlock.

For a start, he had only recently rediscovered the fun in using mundane artifacts for daily chores —which was mainly his fault, for he had forbidden Magnus to use magic when it came to common stuff with the sole goal of teaching Max that no matter how useful his special powers were, they didn't solve everything—, and now Magnus found mundane inventions incredibly hilarious.

As a foot note, Alexander had also learned that it wasn't a good idea to leave Magnus in charge of the kitchen, as he seemed to have a remarkable problem distinguishing salt from sugar, and that was for someone who had lived more than four hundred years. Which explained why he took care of the kitchen while Magnus watched over Max.

There was, as well, the slight possibility that if he left Magnus alone in the house when he came back home all the furniture —and sometimes even the paintings of the wall—, had been changed.

What he did not expect, though, was to come home and find everything upside down, higgledy-piggledy and things that he didn't even know they kept in the apartment scattered around.

Unlike what a normal person would have done upon opening the door to their house and finding such a scene, he didn't panic and he didn't worry—he plainly rolled his eyes and followed his road to the kitchen to storage the groceries he'd just bought in perfect calmness.

This was just one of Magnus' eccentricities, he decided, and not a crime scene. The door hadn't been forced and neither had been the windows. He didn't doubt, though, that Magnus was capable of summoning a whole closet of bizarre items only to spend the afternoon.

What he was not expecting, though, was the loud, piercing noise that broke the silence, something that sounded midway a beaten cat and the noise Alexander thought a building crashing after an earthquake would make. The only thing that could —and in fact, made— his concern worse was the fact that it had come right from Max's room.

Dropping the pineapple in syrup can he was putting away he hurried out of the kitchen and upstairs, taking two steps at the time. Seriously, had Magnus summoned a demon right then while alone with Max…

When he reached the door to his son's room, his grip on the doorknob was so tight that later on he would think back and realize there had been quite a good chance of the door snapping into two.

Then, as soon as he entered the bedroom, seraph blade in hand, what he found wasn't a blood-thirsty demon trying to eat his fiancé and child, but that very same fiancé blissfully holding Max —already three years old— to his chest while playing a bizarre something that looked suspiciously like a musical instrument, similar, if Alexander tried hard enough to equate it to something he knew, to an ukulele—which was where those agonizing sounds were coming from. Max, on his side, was too busy laughing to mind his father's fear.

"Magnus Bane, what in the world do you think you're doing?" he inquired as soon as he could utter a word, in what was supposed to be an outraged scream but came out as a question slightly tainted with disbelief.

"Alexander, dear!" Magnus greeted, either not noticing the shadowhunter's tone or deciding to ignore it. "Look what I found!" he offered, showing off his… artifact.

"And would you mind explaining what that is?" the Lightwood inquired.

"Well, you see, it's a charango!" the warlock explained animatedly. "It's a national instrument from Peru, where I'm banned of, as you know, but anyways, I thought I had lost it! It's been years since the last time I played it!"

"That I noticed as soon as I heard it" Alec satirized.

Ignoring the sarcasm in his partner's voice, a beaming Magnus continued. "I can still do it! See, see?" he argued, playing the… thing —as Alec refused to treat that as a musical instrument— again for Max's delight. "It's been so long, my old friend! And guess what? Back in Peru they always said I had no talent, but look at me now! They just didn't appreciate me!"

As if to give his agreement, Max laughed and shrieked excitedly in his father's arms.

"That sounds like a dying whale" the shadowhunter pointed out flatly.

"Catarina described it as a dying cat" Magnus nodded with a mischevous grin. "But this only proves my point further—from all of us no one but Max and I have good taste in music".

Now that he was sure his family wasn't in danger, Alec rolled his eyes with something between surprise and mild disgust and turned on his heels to leave the room—even if that meant that their neighbors would show up at some point to complain about the strange noises. Never mind, he would ask Magnus to sound-proof the apartment if he wanted to continue practicing his musical abilities.

"Like father, like son" he muttered, having the feeling that this would sooner or later turn out wrong in more than one way.

―*―*―

It was sooner, he discovered a few days after the incident, when Magnus decided he wanted not only to get Max his very own charango, but to practice with him daily too.

Honestly, Alec didn't have the heart to tell the warlocks just how terribly bad they sounded. But he didn't have the ears to listen to that horrid noise either, which explained why he made a habit of going out during the afternoons.

The real problem came when Max and Magnus asked him to sit and enjoy a recital especially prepared for him. Two weeks after that he still wasn't sure that his hearing was at its best. In honor of the truth, though, his family's beaming faces made the sacrifice worth it.

However, he couldn't help but find the irony of the situation. In all sincerity, what where the chances that the only other person on Earth who enjoyed Magnus' music resulted in being their son?

Seriously, like father, like son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what can I say... the charango was just... I had to write something with it now that Magnus is responsible for someone else.
> 
> I know this is not nearly enough to apologize for my absence, which is why I promise to be here soon. At least I hope from the bottom of my heart that you actually enjoyed this story.
> 
> Also, on another note, some time ago, Mlec Bane asked me why I hadn't written a chapter in which Rafael appeared. My answer back then was tat I hadn't read Lady Midnight and I didn't want to risk OOC characters or anything, which was true.
> 
> Then Malec Week happened and suddenly I was filled with Lightwood-Bane family feels and everything went to hell. In case you want to read them, I have recently published two stories that do include Rafael, which are "The Simplest of Answers" and "Silent Pledge" and, of course, I promise soon enough Rafael will be in one of these one-shots.
> 
> As always, but more now than ever, I want to thank you for your patience and constant support. I love you guys! If you want to keep in touch with me or even yell at me for not updating in time, please feel free to add me on Facebook! My name is Karen Hikari and my picture is a girl with read glasses reading.
> 
> Read you soon! I love you!


	10. Changes and Misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! As promised, I'm updating right now after only a week!
> 
> I want to wish all of you a merry Christmas and send you a very warm hug! Please spend these holidays with your families and eat a yummy dinner! Also, in case you are Jewish, happy Hanukkah!
> 
> To apologize for my previous disappearance, I will try to publish a chapter once a week until my vacations are over and... this is the first of those chapters!
> 
> PS: I'm not going to write any specials for Christmas and/or New Year because... I suck at specials, but.. I hope you enjoy this! Love you!

If there was something undeniable, that was that the past couldn't be fixed, although that did not mean that the future was irrevocably going to follow in the footsteps that said past had set. Change was, as a matter of fact, possible―but that didn't mean that it was easy.

The Lightwood family knew that all too well, precisely because they had met mistakes in the past, and encouraged by the wrongs previously made, they had constituted change as the new base of their knowledge―the only way to really improve after an error was first to forgive, both when it came to oneself and to others.

Maxwell Michael Lightwood ―who was never really called by his complete name― was a living proof of just how immense a transformation could be, for he was deeply loved by those who had one once despised his kind.

However, even when forgiveness had found a way into the Lightwood family and a deep love had allowed them to welcome both Magnus and Max, warlocks as they were, to their bosom, simple things still managed to bring back memories that, more than anything, reminded them that the scars of an atrocious past were not yet faded, and misunderstandings often became the reason as to why bad things happened when there were only good intentions behind those actions.

An example of that came on Max's third birthday.

As the Lightwoods had no idea of exactly when had the young warlock had been born and he was estimated-ly eight months of age at the time he had been found, they had plainly subtracted eight months to that day of their serendipity and celebrated the date like that. No one had ever thrown a fuss over that―that was not the problem.

For a start, that day Alec and Max left their loft early, heading for the Institute, where Magnus would meet them after he was over with a couple of clients. A simple, cheery family gathering.

The problem begun when Magnus arrived to the old church and Max instantly raced to meet him, crying hysterically while saying he'd heard Maryse and Robert talking about making him a cake after Alec left for the grocery store.

Needless to say, the child's words instantly enraged the warlock, alarms instantly going off in his head as he sheltered the boy in his arms and, no matter how much he knew both shadowhunters had changed, he had not only seen them while they were welcoming and loving, but at their worst too, when they were nothing short of atrocious, and fear was something hard to forget.

That was when he heard the laughter coming directly from the kitchen, making his fury increase. With the boy still in his arms, he directed himself to the terribly place, not really thinking of asking for an explanation before attacking.

"What in the world is going on here?" he asked in a voice dangerously low as soon as the door was open.

"Magnus!" Maryse greeted from one of the chairs placed around the kitchen table, not seeming to have noticed the warlock's tone of voice. "It's so nice to see you, Alec just came back."

"Don't tell me" he spat, the inflection in his voice being a complete opposite to the care with which his hands left Max on the floor, barely shooting Alexander a glance before turning once more to his mother-in-law. "Before or after you hurt my child?"

"What?" Alec inquired, speaking for the first time from his spot to Maryse's right as he leaned on the kitchen counter.

"Magnus, what are you talking about?" the woman seconded at almost the same time.

"I don't know, why don't you explain me!" he exploded in frustration, letting anger and hurt and frustration taint his words because how was it possible that he had actually started to trust these people? How was it that they were so cruel that they had pretended to love and cherish Max while all along they had been only waiting for the right time to hurt him?

"Magnus, listen, why don't you calm down and try to explain―"

"I'm not the one who has explanations to give!" he replied harshly.

"Enough" Maryse ordered with a shaky voice that, somehow, was still demanding. "I won't have you screaming at me in my own house, if you are not willing to explicate your actions then―"

"If you want to explain something, then why don't you start telling me how or why were you planning to turn my child into a cake?"

"What kind of absurdity is that?" Alec inquired, confusion turned into utter bewilderment.

"You said so…" Mac whispered from behind Magnus, his hand firmly clinging to his father's leg. "You and grandpa said that you'd make Blueberry a cake."

"Oh, dear…" Maryse let out, a tiny smile finding its way to her lips. "Well, now, yes we did. We said we'd make blueberry cupcakes."

Only then did Magnus notice the actual blueberries neatly kept in a basket in the center of the table, right next to the flour and eggs.

"Please don't tell me that… Oh God…" he muttered, smacking a hand to his forehead.

"But I am Blueberry" Max protested, his earlier fear forgotten and transformed into sincere childish curiosity once he saw the tension leave his father.

"That's what you papa calls you, ah?" Maryse inquired softly, opening her arms for her grandson. "Come here."

Still with the tiniest bit of apprehension in his eyes, Max turned to look at Magnus, who could only nod in shame.

"I can't believe this" Alec mocked as he finally couldn't hold it any longer and burst into laughter.

"This silly fruit over here is called a blueberry" Maryse continued to explain with a smile as he took Max into her lap, offering him one of the fruitlets. "See the color? That's why your papa calls you that" she assured.

"So you are not going to bake me? Like the witch from Hansel and Gretel?" the boy asked, having already stained his small face with the juice of the berry.

"Of course not, dear!" Maryse replied, laughing with pleasure. "But we indeed are baking blueberry cupcakes because it's someone's birthday today, isn't it?" she said, grabbing a pinch of flour between her index and thumb right before taking Max's nose with her fingers, sending tiny puffs of white dust flying.

Blushing to the point that he could have passed as a red-berry, Magnus cleared his throat.

"Oh dear… Maryse… I'm so sorry I did… oh God…" he trailed off. The shadowhunter, though, instead of becoming mad at him or throwing the whole bowl of eggs in his direction, merely smiled at him denying with her head, as if to shrug the incident off.

"It's alright, Magnus" she assured kindly, without losing that genuine smile that made her look a few years younger. "But we're still missing the milk, so if you could go to the grocery store and bring a some, it'd' be awesome" she said, not losing her grin when Max got his tiny hands into the flour bag and dropped the small handfuls right on Maryse's black dress. True was, the shadowhunter was enjoying herself just as much as her grandson was.

"As things are right now, Maryse, I'd gladly bring you the whole store" he offered awkwardly.

"What's going on here?" Robert asked as a greeting, startling Magnus.

"Nothing's going on, why'd you say that?" the warlock hurried to answer. "Better yet, I was already leaving to buy dear Maryse here some things she needs for her cooking!"

"Give me a second and I'll go with you" Robert said. "Apparently, Isabelle forgot to buy more paper and I need to finish a report."

As he nodded with no further thoughts, Magnus had time to, once more, dwell on how much things had changed, how Maryse Lightwood ―strong-willed, stern, mordant Maryse Lightwood― had left her pride aside and wasn't even mad at him for having distrusted her to the point of accusing her of planning to hurt a child; how Robert. Lightwood ―cold, disdainful, hateful Robert Lightwood― was now pleased to see him, downworlder as he was, in his house.

How he, too, had come to actually like these people, despite what had happened in the past. And what was more, ten minutes in the past he hadn't been enraged merely because it was cruel to despise someone because of who he had been born to, oh, no. While that continued to be unfair, what really had gotten on his nerves and what had turned so rapidly into rage had been hurt. Hurt at the thought, flashing as it was, that even when everything seemed to be so good then, all the trust he had placing into the shadowhunter kind had gone to waste. Disappointment at the thought that, after all, things like hate didn't amend.

"I'm sorry" Magnus offered one more time as he leaned down to kiss Alec's temple as a form of apology.

"I can't believe you sometimes" the shadowhunter said, though the smile in his lips gave him away.

"Me neither, I guess I'm just too amazing sometimes" the warlock offered with a smile, while behind them Maryse could only roll her eyes.

Maybe, she thought, no matter how other things did change, some were simply meant to last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everything!
> 
> This idea is a little... bizarre I must say, but it was also kind of cute, so... I had to write it down after a friend shared his plot idea with me.
> 
> On another note, I promise Rafael will have his first appearance in this story in the next chapter!


	11. We Have a Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Yes, I know I'm two days late for this update, but there's a reason for it. You see, on Saturday, when I was supposed to be transcribing, my family said "Hell no, we're celebrating New Year's Day" and then I became sick (I still am, a bit, but I had to get this out),
> 
> This chapter is very special to me because a) It's little Rafe's first appearence in this story, b) It includes a lot of my personal headcanons about the Lightwood-Bane family, c) It's full of love and fluff.
> 
> I have to thank JelloDVDs for the idea for this chapter because it wasn't until I read her story "Saving Catarina" (you should totally go and check it out) that I remembered Catarina is originally from Spain and, therefore, speaks Spain, just like Rafe, and just like me. You should already know I have a soft spot for languages, more so when it comes to my mother language, and since I haven't read a story with a similar theme I decided to write it myself.
> 
> Also, a big shoutout for xx ShamiksXa xx, who kindly beta read this one-shot and is a wonderful person.
> 
> PD: I'm changing the summary of this story because, once upon a time, very long ago, this was supposed to be a one-shot and not a series of one-shots.

Magnus and Alec were no strangers to introducing new members to their ever-growing family.

For starters, it had been scarcely two years since Max had been taken into the family, and after that ―well, maybe probably even because of that― they'd also had to add Lily, Maia, and Catarina into the mix.

Until then, it had all worked wonderfully. Sure, Robert still had a few sore spots with Lily, but he managed to be decent around her and while they surely had to work with his relationship with vampires, he had affection to Catarina. Maia was alright, too, as long as there were no transformations in the living room. Overall, they were just fine.

Both Magnus and Alec knew that it might have seemed peculiar, silly even that they allowed ―and had obliged― their second son to call those downworlders "aunts", but they sincerely didn't mind.

In all justice, theirs was a family that consisted of people that had been carelessly tossed away and then picked up to be put back together by a loving hand. It had been like that from the beginning and, as far as they were concerned, those were their children's aunt as much as Isabelle and Clary were.

Besides, Max loved the attention and had no shame whatsoever showing it, which basically meant that the young warlock was a believer that, of course, the more, the merrier.

Rafael, though… Rafael was another story.

The elder boy certainly had a different opinion on the matter, and while both Alec and Magnus wanted to confirm that from the moment they had welcomed him into their house there was nothing he had to fear, much less the introduction to the unquestionable members of his new family, they couldn't blame him.

Thus they had gone slowly, taking baby steps, making pauses when they were necessary and being patient when it came to their eldest son.

That was why they had waited so long before finally starting to introduce Rafael to his aunts and uncles and, of course, Rafael's first appearance into the family had been nothing like Max's, so noisy, so boisterous.

No, far from that Rafael had seen things that Max hadn't, things that, in all honesty, he shouldn't have seen, and he reacted quite differently to crowded places and unknown faces when compared to the young warlock.

For starters, when they had first found him, Rafael had ran from them, first fleeing from Alec's attempts to catch him when he caught glimpse of the boy in the streets of Buenos Aires and then hiding behind the shadowhunter's legs a couple of days later when he met Magnus, too terrified by the newcomer, not only because he was unknown, but mostly because of the amber glimmer of his eyes because, no matter how gentle his voice was, no matter the fact that he actually understood his words as he spoke in Spanish there was something in him, something that set off his alarms.

The nightmares were, too, an issue. It was hard to teach a child trust when all he had known were fear and loneliness.

It had taken three months to make Rafael understand that when someone touched him it didn't have to be accompanied by pain and to get him to stop flinching when one of them offered him their hand. That did not mean that he wasn't scared by sudden movements or that, when he entered a room, the first thing he did was to search for an exit, if given any reason to escape.

As if that wasn't enough, Rafael had a major speech delay, which was not to come in as a surprise, since he had been living on his own since the age of two. Now, of course he didn't speak English, the real problem was… he didn't speak much Spanish either.

And then, naturally, there was the malnourishment and the panic attacks and the tantrums and the screams and–it was getting better, yes it was.

Right then, they could go as much as a week with no incidents of Rafael waking up in screams; right then they had managed to gain enough trust from the child for him to actually slip his small hand into one of his father's when he got nervous.

Rafael had also been gaining weight, and though he was still some pounds under what he should be, they were getting there. And last but not least, the young boy had gone a very long way when it came to speaking, which was probably his greatest achievement then.

Quite honestly, Magnus had a theory that Rafael, either consciously or unconsciously, paid more attention to the grammar of the words he was saying and to their correct pronunciation in favor to push away the fear of how new everything still was, and while that thought was heart-breaking, Magnus couldn't help the pride that blossomed in his chest when he heard Rafael actually speak, with his sweet, whispered voice.

Things were getting better, that much was true,

And, on happier news, if there was one thing that always managed to bring back hope to Alec and Magnus after a troublesome night, that was the fact that, from the very beginning, Rafael had taken a special liking to Max.

It was more than a bit surprising, to say the least, that upon seeing Max's smiley blue face Rafael didn't start screaming, but the sight had been so sweet that Alec and Magnus decided not to think too much about it.

Honestly, they deserved that warming relief after nearly three weeks of worrying because, though they wanted to spare their youngest the feeling of rejection, they couldn't continue traveling back and forth from Buenos Aires to New York leaving Max with Maryse or Izzy or Catarina. The children needed to meet each other.

Magnus and Alec were prepared for fire, for explosions, for screams and tantrums―it was to be expected, after all, Rafael had been terrified of Magnus, whose only visible demon trait consisted in a vertical line for a pupil instead of a circle while Max's was… a little harder to ignore, with the deep blue color of his skin and the horns that had just started to grow out, making him a tad clumsy and forcing him to turn his head all too suddenly, unaccustomed to the weight.

Surprisingly, none of that happened.

It would never cease to amaze them, the couple had decided a long time in the past, that the first time Rafael and Max met, under the very worried eyes of their parents, Max carefully put down by Magnus while Rafael hid behind Alec's legs―that the first time they'd met, when Max, boisterous and trusting as he was immediately jumped from Magnus' grip and wrapped his arms around the terrified shadowhunter… Rafael didn't jerk away or jump in fright.

It had taken Alec a solid half an hour to get Rafael to stop screaming when he'd met Magnus, Magnus, who spoke his language, who had a normal skin color, let alone let the warlock touch him. The couple had expected way worse when it came to Max―it hadn't been so.

For the first three seconds, Alec speculated that perhaps Rafael was too shocked to push Max away, but when by the fifteenth second Rafael's arms, ever so slowly, wrapped around the warlock's shoulders, both Magnus and Alec exhaled sighs of relief.

It had been like that ever since―for some reason that Magnus and Alec neither knew nor questioned, Rafael trusted Max blindly, and the warlock adored his brother. So, when it had finally felt right to start introducing Rafael to other things, trying new foods, taking him out and into crowds more often now that he trusted them not to leave him behind and, overall, the rest of the family, their little blueberry had taken it upon his shoulders to be Rafael's guide.

Of course Magnus and Alec hadn't been able to keep the new addition to the Lightwood-Bane family secret for too long ―with people like Isabelle Lightwood around nothing was easy to hide―, but after they had explained their reasons to keep Rafe away from them for a little longer their relatives had agreed that it was the wisest thing to do.

That, however, hadn't withheld them from asking for pictures and videos so, basically, everyone knew about Rafe and knew him―he just had no idea of who they were.

They had taken baby steps when it came to the family, as they had with everything else.

After six months with them, when they considered Rafael was comfortable and stable enough around them, they had first introduced him to Isabelle and Jace ―mainly because if she was not the first one introduced to the boy, Isabelle was probably going to go berserk on them, and also because I'm your parabatai, Alec, I need to be there―, after two weeks it had come Robert and Maryse's turn, then Clary and Simon's. And then they had run out of shadowhunters.

It was the downworlders' turn now.

They had decided to introduce Rafael to Catarina first, on her own, and then to Lily and Maia.

To say the least, they were worried. It didn't matter that the blue skin had proved not to be an issue in the past, it didn't matter that until then those family meetings had gone perfectly fine―they both could feel their breath stuck in their throats.

Magnus had started pacing in the living room when the doorbell finally rang.

Peering his head from his spot on the couch, Rafael slowly stood up and went to hide behind Alec's legs, who had come out of the kitchen and was now about to open the door of the apartment.

"She's here, aren't you excited?" Alec asked to no one in particular before sighing and, finally, opening the door.

They had warned Rafael that the aunt he was to meet that day was very special and that she was a warlock, with blue skin just like Max's, but there was still no telling to how Rafael would react.

"Rafael, this is Catarina Loss" Magnus explained, placing his right hand on Catarina's shoulder, just to let Rafael know that it was okay to touch her. "She's a very dear friend of―"

"Aunt Cat, aunt Cat, aunt Cat!" Max declared, coming out of the room he shared with Rafael now that he knew the female warlock had arrived.

"Max, thanks for your interruption" Magnus satirized, coming out ignored by everyone but Alexander, who choked down a laugh.

"Ha-ha, I think someone here knows my name" Catarina laughed, kneeling down to hug Max when the toddler wrapped his arms around her legs.

"I do, I do!" Max nodded, before stepping back to take Rafael's hand from behind Alec. "Aunt Cat, this is Rafe" he declared

"Rafe?" Catarina asked gently, her only answer Rafael's shy raise of his eyes.

"Rafe, this is aunt Cat" Max continued, all but dragging his brother away from their father with a small yelp of the shadowhunter. "She has blue skin just like me and she makes the best chocolate cookies―just don't tell that to aunt Izzy."

"Hi," Catarina greeted as Rafael eyed her shyly.

"You are blue" Rafael pointed out as if he didn't yet believe it. "But not like Max, it's… it's más*… just… different" he said, unable to remember the word he wanted to say in English.

"Yeah, my skin is a little lighter, isn't it?" she said, smiling, to what Rafael nodded curtly. "Y también hablo español*" she offered gently, deciding that, perhaps, what Rafael needed to listen to were kind words in his mother language.

As soon as the first word left her lips, Rafael raised his gaze, believing for a second that he had heard her wrong. On her side, she simply winked him an eye.

"¿Español?*" he asked, giving a couple of shy steps towards her.

"I was born in Spain" Catarina explained, to what Rafael nodded once more. "That's where I met your papa."

"She's amazing" Max declared cheerily, causing the female warlock to laugh heartedly.

"Well, that certainly means something coming from the most handsome warlock in here, sweetheart" she chuckled as she tried to reach Max to tickle him, although Max, knowing the trick, shrieked in excitement and jumped out of her grasp.

Turning back to Rafael, Catrina sent him a smile.

"Extrañas el español, ¿no es cierto?*" she asked gently. "You miss Spanish, don't you?"

"Yeah," the shadowhunter nodded. "Papa has tried to teach dad Spanish but he… no aprende nada*" he whispered as if telling her a secret.

"He's a little hopeless, isn't he?" Catarina said, causing the boy to nod vigorously. "I hear you're Max's brother, ah? That makes me your aunt too, did you know?" she continued gently, brushing dark bangs away from his eyes.

Feeling a knot tie itself in her chest as she saw the surprised sparkle that immediately lit in the eyes of the young boy ―as if he hadn't believed it, as if he hadn't stopped to consider that, since she was a part of Max's family, she was part of his family too―, Catarina continued.

"¿Puedo abrazarte?*" she asked, waiting for Rafael to gesture his approval before tenderly wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I'm so glad to finally meet you" she whispered, pressing a kiss to Rafael's temple before standing up.

"It's nice to see you" Alec welcomed her, now that he had her attention at last.

"It's always nice that you invite me" she replied, already following the Lightwood to the kitchen.

"It's not our fault that you're so busy at the hospital" Alec laughed. "You know you're welcomed to come whenever you want."

"Of course" she nodded. "I promise I'll try to come more often, I-" she stopped, feeling Rafael coyly slip his tiny hand into hers. She smiled down at him to let know it was alright before continuing. "I'm free next Sunday, why don't you all come over to my place?"

"Sounds like a plan to me" Magnus piped in from behind them, Max clapping excitedly in his arms.

"What do you say then, Rafe? Would you like that?" Cat inquired.

"Sí*" he nodded, before switching back to English. "I'd like it very much… aunt Cat."

"Then next Sunday it is. We have a plan, gentlemen" the female warlock laughed.

And they did, didn't they? After all the trials and tribulations, the unexpected appearances and confessions… they had a plan, a plan, and a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously love Catarina, just saying.
> 
> Anyways, here go my translations. All of the are, of course, Spanish.
> 
> *1 más, more.
> 
> *2 y también hablo español, and I also speak Spanish.  
> *3 ¿español?, Spanish  
> *4 Extrañas el español, ¿no es cierto?, you miss Spanish, don't you?  
> *5 No aprende nada, He doesn't learn anything.
> 
> *6 ¿Puedo abrazarte?, can I hug you?  
> *7 Sí, yes.
> 
> That's all for now, beautiful people, please let me know in the comments if you liked this chapter as much as I did and... read you soon!


	12. New Member of the Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, first of all, I want to start by saying that this was one of the first ideas I got when I starte dwriting this story, and I had been putting off to write this idea, but it's very dear to me.
> 
> Also, I haven't had much contact with cats and much less with babies, so I hope I'm not making things too strange over here. I hope you like this!

"Do you remember what you told me when we first met?" Ales asked, carefully rearranging Max in his left arm as he stepped out of the portal, pulling a wheeled backpack with him.

"Sweet pea, I say a lot of things" Magnus replied nonchalantly, as he placed two more bags on the floor, struggling to get his hand in the pocket of his coat to find the key to their apartment as he balanced a third bag on his shoulder. Seriously, if Alexander didn't make them do things the mundane way…

"Don't call me that" Alec rolled his eyes in automatic as he handed Magnus his own key once it became obvious that the warlock had forgotten his. "You said that you didn't date anyone your cat didn't like, remember?"

"I did?" Magnus raised an eyebrow. Quite honestly, all he remembered from the first time he had seen Alexander were his cerulean eyes and shy blushing. Though, to be fair, those words did sound like something he'd say.

"So, I was just thinking" the Lightwood continued. "Did that just apply to your love life of do you not adopt anyone that your cat doesn't like either?"

"What?" he questioned, turning to take a look at Alexander for the first time in their conversation.

"Well, I was wondering" Alec said. "In case, you know, that the Chairman doesn't like Max " he shrugged, causing the young warlock ―who already recognized his name― to giggle.

"What are you talking about?"

"I just want to know if I count with you or if I have to brace myself for the possibility of becoming a single father" Alec trailed off, trying to croak a laugh to disguise his nervousness with a joke.

"That's not happening" Magnus brushed off, walking over to the shadowhunter. "Surely he'll like our blueberry, won't he? I mean, how could he not? Right, cupcake?" he said, picking at Max's right cheek, much for the toddler's delight. "It'll be alright" he said, this time to Alexander before turning around and entering the apartment to start looking for the Chairman.

During the two months that they'd been away at the Academy, Lily and Maia had been kind enough to drop by and feed the Chairman so, now that they had opened the door as nosily as they had, either the cat thought it was one of the girls and thus didn't deem them important enough to go and greet them or, more likely, he knew it was them but was too upset of having been left behind and simply didn't want to see them.

"Chairman, kitty, kitty" Magnus said, feeling foolish as he entered the main bedroom. Nope, he wasn't there sleeping on top of Alexander's pillow. "Chairman, c'mon" he continued as he kneeled down to take a look under the bed. He couldn't help but remember Alexander's words.

Stupid, he thought, it had been so stupid of him not to think of the Chairman. He hadn't considered for a minute that, while Max had already been welcomed with open arms by Alexander's family, his cat, whom Max would now be sharing a house with, his cat, that had been his only real family for years… had yet to give his approval.

In a perfect world, the Chairman would be a sweet little kitty and welcome the new member of the family, accepting his new role as Max's protector and companion―sadly, that sounded rather utopic.

Truth to be told, the Chairman had grown a tad grumpy in his old age and most of times spent his days half rubbing himself against their legs to be petted and half avoiding them.

As if that wasn't enough, the Chairman didn't like sharing. Some years in the past Magnus had taken in a kitten that he'd rescued from the streets. He'd kept it for over a month, only while he found a fitting adopter for the white furry ball. Two weeks after he'd given the kitten away the Chairman was still hissing at him in disagreement.

Besides, his small cat had never liked children. Well, that was probably an exaggeration, because he'd never been around children, with the sole exception, maybe, of Clary's yearly visit, though, to be fair, Biscuit wasn't a good reference, with her small hands that wanted to get on everything, even the dangerous potions on the kitchen's table.

But, on the other side, the Chairman didn't like noise, that much was true, and despite the fact that Max wasn't a scandal, he wasn't quiet either, so―

"Found him!" Alec called from the living room, interrupting his train of thought.

Screw it, Magnus decided, it was better to go and find out what the Chairman thought about Max instead of continuing senselessly worrying over it.

When he returned to the living room, he found Alec looking at the couch on top of which Chairman Meow was lazily sprawled. On his left arm, the shadowhunter held Max, who was making grabbing motions towards the small mammal.

"Chairman, come here" Magnus ordered, pointing to the floor at Alexander's feet, but he merely eyed him skeptically and licked its paw.

"It doesn't seem like an obedient kitty, does it, Max?" Alec laughed next to the warlock.

Rolling his eyes at being made fun of, Magnus walked over to the blue piece of furniture and minding not his cat's hiss, he picked the Chairman up and then walked right back to Alec, carefully setting the infamous cat on the floor.

"This wouldn't happen if you didn't leave me hanging like that" Magnus shrugged at the cat's annoyed glare.

"Ba-ba-ba" Max babbled happily, as he both clapped his hands and tried to free himself from his father's grip.

"Aha, that's what he is, a mean, old ba-ba-ba" Alec nodded with a smile before, upon receiving a nod from Magnus when they locked gazes, kneeling down to put Max on the floor.

"Ba-ba-ba" Max shrieked excitedly once Alec's arms weren't around him anymore, promptly trying to crawl in the cat's direction. The Chairman, seeing that his tranquility had been disturbed once more, jumped back in alarm, though he kept his eyes on the new creature.

A second went by, then three, then five, during which none of them did anything, until finally, slowly, the Chairman took a tiny step forward, receiving Max's excited laugh as reward. Sure enough, it sounded boisterous, but it did not seem dangerous, and his human looked quite content, so the Chairman decided to two take two more steps, until he was at hand's reach from the young warlock.

And, neither slow nor lazy, Max was reaching up, his small, chubby hands in the cat's direction within seconds. Seeing the tiny fingers nearing him, the Chairman stretched his lips, showing his small, sharp fangs in warning.

"Be nice" Magnus reprimanded, receiving a low growl as answer, though it wasn't long before the Chairman covered its teeth once more and took another step forward, allowing Max's fingers to brush over his face as he sniffled them. He smelled sweet, like milk and sandalwood, though Chairman Meow was sure, the latter was his human's doing.

Deciding the little human wasn't that bad, the Chairman took two more steps forward and let the warlock pat his head, purring somewhat against his will, as he had yet to decide whether if he liked the boy or not.

"Ba-ba-ba" Max declared once more as he promptly wrapped his arms around the cat's neck and pulled it to his lap. The Chairman squirmed for a moment, but after a few seconds, he gave up and, with a small huff, he stopped fighting and allowed the toddler to pet him.

Feeling like a weight had been lifted off his back now that his cat and his son had meet each other and there had been no more problem than some tense minutes, Magnus almost slipped to the ground, letting out a sigh he didn't even notice he'd been holding.

"So I guess that means it'll be alright?" he whispered as he felt Alec's strong arms embrace him from behind.

"Of course it will be" Alec said in a passing. "I never doubted it would, I know my family."

There was something in Alec's words, an assurance so gentle, the feeling of a domesticity so un-thought that Magnus felt his breath getting caught in his throat.

Of course he knew they were a family―more so then than ever before, since they had taken Max in. On the other hand, Chairman Meow had been his only family for years, the only one that would notice if one night he didn't return home, and that was why it had been so important that he got along with his love interest of course he knew that the whole Lightwood clan had pretty much taken him in and yet―Alec's tone had been so unconcerned, so familiar, so fitting.

It was a simple statement that somehow came as the living proof that everything that he'd once thought he'd never have had actually been acquired by him―a family, love, real love, someone that cared for him.

It made him feel so warm inside that Magnus actually had to blink away a couple of tears.

"I love you" he choked, leaning his head on Alec's left shoulder.

"And I love you too" Alec whispered, brushing a kiss to the warlock's temple was he thought to himself that, really, was there anything they were missing from their lives?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And well...? How did it go? Good, bad? Please comment, it feeds my soul and makes me think all the work is worth it!
> 
> Read you next week!


	13. Interesting Turns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, I'm late agai but what else is new? Don't worry, I know exactly how many chapters I promised, and I swear you'll get them, despite my two-weeks delay. Believe it or not, I still know what I do.
> 
> Anyways, the thing is I jus started classes today (don't ask me why I dido so on Wednesday, I wonder the same thing) and that's why I'm acting a little crazy right now, never mind me. You'll probably get the chapters I'm missing during the weekend.
> 
> This chapter was edited yesterday at 12:00 am, so it much likely will have some mistakes, please act as if they don't exist, my sleep-deprived brain thanks you. I really hope you enjoy this!

Throughout the years, Robert Lightwood had learned that you couldn't always trust your gut when it came to first impressions, especially not if there existed the possibility that your opinion was biased. It happened that, on some occasions, only time could tell the real nature of people, and someone you trusted whole-heartedly could backstab you while someone you eyed with contempt had sincere intentions.

Ever since Magnus and Alec had taken Max in, Robert had lived by that knowledge, when it came to his grandson, at least. He'd never had any problem whatsoever with Max's species. Quite certainly, he knew his grandson was a downworlder and quite certainly he didn't care.

He'd had, truth to be told, various issues when it came to Magnus, issues that included his species, his gender and also who Magnus was as a person―but time had taught him better. Hell, time kept teaching him better every day.

Despite all his big talk about changing, Robert had to admit that it hadn't been easy. Accepting Max had been easy; welcoming him into their family was merely instinctive.

On the other side, fully accepting the mix of downworlders and shadowhunters that his eldest son had chosen as a life hadn't been simple, it hadn't come as naturally.

Right then, almost five years after Max's adoption, Robert could honestly say that he'd gone a long way.

For starters, the mental barriers that he'd spent so many years building between those strange people that he called downworlders and himself had long-since come down, faded on the edges, until downworlders and shadowhunters were only people―truth to tell, he could mention quite a number of shadowhunters that had acted worse than some downworlders, himself included.

Though, there was a keyword―some. Over the years, he'd met several downworlders ―Alec mostly worked with the downworlder and shadowhunter relationship, after all―, but only some of them had stuck around the family enough for his son's children to call them "aunts".

One of them certainly, was Catarina Loss, a fellow warlock, and though it was probable that Robert's opinion when it came to warlocks was biased, as half of his family consisted in them, he had other good reasons to like Catarina―Caty, like he called her.

Catarina was responsible, kind. She was a committed and caring nurse, had been for centuries; she knew how to handle children and how to react to an emergency.

There was, also Maia Roberts, whose last name he only remembered because it was practically his own name. The werewolf girl was alright too, for the most part―for all the strange-looking blue skin and snowy white hair, Catarina couldn't grow claws and fangs out of thin air ―she probably could, with her magic, but Robert preferred to ignore that fact―, which certainly represented a threat for the children.

However, claws or not, Maia was kind and had a gentle smile, she was always ready to help and she was respectful. Maia was the kind of girl that did things the right way and followed the rules―Robert liked that of her.

Then… then there was Lily Chen.

Robert didn't like her, end of the story. Period.

He'd tried, for nearly five years he'd tried. Everyone but him seemed at ease with the vampire. Alec laughed and rolled his eyes when she spoke, Magnus teased her, the kids, even Rafael ―Rafael, who'd been terrified of vampires when he'd entered the family― adored her, Isabelle and Clary went shopping with her because, in their words, she needed to stop dressing like she was still in the thirties. Hell, even Catarina and Maryse seemed fine with her, but he simply didn't find it in him to make amends with her, especially when it was she who was a potential threat to his grandsons.

Lily, on her side, seemed to sense Robert's repressed groan each time he saw her, and, in return she didn't hesitate to let him know, in her own mordant, sarcastic and I'm-better-than-all-of-you attitude until Maia had to nudge her, signaling the vampire to shut up that, while she wasn't welcomed by him, she only tolerated him because Alec asked her to.

He'd talked about it with Alexander, too, but that only made his son shoot him a warning glare whenever he and the head of the New York vampire clan were in the same room, as if Alec expected him to make a scene for it. Frankly, that would have been the prospect five years in the past, but it wasn't anymore, that was the whole point of it.

"It's not that she's a vampire, Alec, I swear," he'd told his son one night, as they stood face-to-face in the kitchen of the apartment Alec had been sharing with Magnus for years, after Max's fourth birthday party, to which Lily had attended.

"It's not that she's a downworlder, you mean, it is that she's a vampire," Alec snorted.

"I just mean… Look, Alec, she's dangerous, that's all I'm saying, she―"

"As a matter of fact, so are you and so is Magnus and so am I" he pointed out. "There's a gunroom in the Institute, for the Angel's sake, and you seem fine with Mom or Jace being around the children. Jace, of all people! So say it, you're against Lily because she's a vamp."

"Alec, I only meant to―"

"Dad, I get it, you mean well. And sure as hell Lily can be heedless and too straightforward, but she has a good heart."

"Son, you certainly know her better than I do, but you ought to―"

"I trust my children around Lily just like I trust them around Isabelle," Alec replied setting his wineglass a little too hard on the kitchen table. "And if you are confident in my abilities to judge people, you should trust her too."

And with that, Alec had left Robert alone in the kitchen, deciding to end the conversation before it was transformed into an actual arguing, yelling match included.

Quite honestly, their relationship had been become better over the years, but sometimes it still felt as if they were walking on eggshells―a wrong move, an inconsiderate word and all their hard work would go to waste.

Robert hadn't dared bring the matter up again.

Not until that day.

It had been a long week ―who was he kidding, it had been a hard month― for Magnus and Alec, so he had offered to keep the boys for the weekend, giving the couple a much needed time away from being parents, just the two of them, two people in love. They were still young, after all, and the Angel knew raising kids was hard enough without things that suddenly burst in flames, courtesy of their young warlock and his untamed magic.

According to the plan, Alec would drop the kids at the Institute, where Robert was to pick them up and wait for Clary to open a portal to Idris for them. Normally, Magnus would be the one to do that, but that day he was busy with a client.

That wasn't the problem―it all started to go wrong when Alec called him, ten minutes after the time he was supposed to call him to tell Robert, signal that meant he was already at the Institute, waiting for him.

"Dad, I'm sorry for making you wait" he said without a greeting, sounding out of breath. "There's been a situation with Maia's pack and I won't be able to drop the boys off. Lily has them now, she―"

"Why not Jace or your sister?" Robert complained.

"They're on a mission and Magnus is busy. Cat's at the hospital. There's only Lily" his son retorted, presumably rolling his eyes. Robert groaned. "Dad, be nice, you don't even have to talk to her, just say thank you and she'll be off."

Robert was tempted to huff. Seriously, his son acted as if he were going to pull a crucifix and shower Lily with holly water every time he saw her.

Little did Robert know, however, that Alec had actually spent fifteen minutes on the phone already, telling Lily to bite her tongue and not say any of the things that would make him roll his eyes if he were with her. In fact, Alec said it would be better if she just kept her mouth completely shut.

"Fine" Robert said. "But for the record, I would prefer it if it were Maia the one who dropped the boys."

"That I know, dad" Alec said, then hung up.

He could be civil around the vampire, Robert decided with a sigh, even if there was no one else around to make sure they didn't jump on each other's throats.

―*―*―

As things turned out, he actually had to talk to Lily, and not exactly under the best of circumstances, though, to be fair, it wasn't the vampire's fault. Lily, true to her word, hadn't caused any problems. It was more of a shadowhunter's fault, and not Robert precisely.

When Robert finally arrived to the Institute, after Alec had called, he found out that Lily was already there and, instead of the original plan, which was Robert opening the door for her, letting the children in and then closing said door again, Lily had entered the Institute to say hi to Clary.

Well, still, he could be civil around her, either outside or inside of the antique church.

He supposed that, first of all, he needed to find Clary and then, wherever his daughter-in-law was, Lily Chen and his grandkids would be too.

However, he had only started looking for Clary when he came across a disturbing scene.

The first person he recognized was Lily, her long, black hair being an unmistakable trademark, her sharp fangs bared in a clear warning: don't come any closer.

For once, though, Lily's eyes were not focused on him, but on someone else.

Now, Thomas Hightower* wasn't someone that Robert was close to. They had never spoken much, despite them being contemporaries, except, maybe, when they shared the same thoughts about downworlders, which made it even more unsettling to find Thomas there, a strained smile plastered across his lips, a look of contempt placed in his eyes as they focused on Lily.

Glaring, Lily tightened her hands around the children and rolled her eyes.

"For the last time, let go of the children and I'll take them to the Inquisitor" Thomas was saying, his voice kept low, his back slightly hunched over, as if he were considering merely snatching Max away from Lily's grip and running away.

"The last time sounds good enough" Lily retorted. "I have strict orders to give the kids away to Robert Lightwood only, and last time I checked, you were not Robert Lightwood, so get the hell out of here."

"This is ridiculous, outraging!" Thomas said, almost screaming. "No shadowhunter would ever trust his children to a filthy vampire!"

"Don't tell me" Lily snorted. "And what about a filthy shadowhunter?"

Lily made a throaty sound then, straightening her back slowly, to make the threatening length of her fangs even more noticeable.

That was the moment Robert stopped listening to their argument, his attention caught up in his grandchildren―firstly, he noticed Max, the weight of the small warlock supported by Lily's hip, one of her arms located firmly around his waist.

That wasn't what Robert saw, not really―it was the way Max kept turning his head from Thomas to Lily, back and forth, every time one of them said something, his hands turned into tiny fists around the fabric of Lily's shirt.

Then there was Rafael, oh Rafael. Robert couldn't stop the pang of guilt that overcame him once he saw the young boy's expression―he looked terrified, his teeth biting into his lower lip, his left arm placed stiffly around Lily's waist, his hand clutching the side of the vampire. He breathed heavily, eyes focused on Hightower, confusion, hurt and fear flashing across his eyes.

In return, Lily's right hand laid on top of Rafael's head, her long fingers absentmindedly playing with the boy's dark longs―gently, almost tenderly, a way of letting him know that she was there, that he wasn't alone.

Yes, both his grandchildren looked terrified, but it wasn't of the vampire that looked every ounce as intimidating as she could manage―Lily's whole body was bracing for a fight, her shoulder blades tense, her movement too slow, given the rigidness of her muscles. Her jaw was set tight, her head thrown back.

Yet, her hands weren't as stiff, her touch on the children was gentle, reassuring.

Yes, his grandchildren were terrified, and it wasn't because of the vampire he'd labeled "dangerous" long in the past, but because of a shadowhunter―a shadowhunter with no claws or abnormally long fangs but a false smile and a contemptuous glare. And they had sought shelter behind a vampire, of all creatures.

Even the most foolish child isn't wrong and sees hypocrisy where the cleverest man does not; a child instinct is infallible, Leo Tolstoy had said.

'I trust my children around Lily just like I trust them around Isabelle' Alexander had said, and, suddenly, Robert understood why. There was Lily Chen, sarcastic, mordant Lily Chen, head of the New York vampire clan―protecting his grandchildren, who she didn't have to care for but did.

"Enough" Robert ordered, barely raising his voice as he stepped forward.

"Oh, Inquisitor, I'm so glad that you're here! I was trying to explain this fil-this vampire that she shouldn't even be inside this building."

"I'm glad to be here myself" Robert nodded, sending an icy smile in Thomas' direction. "Concerning you other words, Thomas, has it even occurred to you that there's a reason she's allowed inside? She's a family friend and she can come and go as she pleases" at his statement, it was hard to tell who seemed the most surprised, if Lily of Thomas. Though, truth to tell, the vampire made a better job disguising her astonishment.

"I... I understand, Inquisitor" Thomas said. "But it's merely common sense not to allow vampires into―"

"This is not your Institute, and these are not your rules" Robert cut him off. "In fact, I see why Miss Chen is here, but I still don't understand why you are."

Thomas' breath got caught in his throat, Robert could tell that much as the other shadowhunter seemed incapable of forming a word to reply.

"Inquisitor―"

"Get out, Thomas, and keep your opinions about my family to yourself."

"I can't believe it" Hightower finally said, giving Robert a disapproving look as he inspected him from head to toe. "It is true. You've become one of those downworlder-adorers! You are a disgrace to the Lightwood name, you and your faggot of a―"

"I won't repeat myself" Robert interrupted sternly. "Get out."

With an outraged huff, Thomas turned on his heels and left the place. Robert didn't turn to his family until he heard the hinges of the door rustling as it closed.

"Talk about unexpected appearances," Lily said with an amused smile.

"What are you talking about? You were expecting me" Robert pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Some things were still unexpected" the vampire argued. Robert couldn't have agreed more.

"Are you alright?" he asked instead, adding after a second-thought, his eyes focused on Lily. "All of you?"

"We're just fine" the vampire brushed off. "For the record, I had it all under control. I'd like to see him try to put a finger on me. Or on them" she concluded, pointing to the children with her head.

"That I see" Robert nodded. That was the moment Max decided that the man in front of him was in fact his grandfather and not another unwelcomed shadowhunter.

"Grandpa!" the small warlock squealed, trying to break free from Lily's grip, his chubby arms outstretched for Robert to pick him up.

"Hi there, Blueberry" Robert smiled, trying to take Max from Lily's arms without touching her―not because he was disgusted by her, but because he was ashamed to be that close to her after the way he'd treated her. "I'm happy to see you too."

"Go say hello to your grandfather" Lily said, turning to Rafael, who was still eyeing Robert warily. Instead of doing what he was told, Rafael looked up to Lily, an inquisitive look in his eyes, silently asking for Lily's approval. She nodded, and just like that, Robert had Rafael's arms around his waist. He wrapped his left arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Rafe" Lily said after a while, once the three of them were facing the vampire again. "Don't give me that look, he was not going to hurt you guys. I wouldn't have left him, you hear that? Over my dead body."

"You are already dead" Rafael relied in a small voice.

"Even more so. I'm not planning on dying again anytime soon. Believe me, it's no fun," Lily said in tone more gentle than Robert had ever heard her use.

"He was being mean" Max uttered after some silent second.

"He was" Lily nodded, squatting to see Rafael ―who now stood to Robert's left side, his arms still around his grandfather's waist― in the eyes. "Some people are just jerk-idiots" she corrected herself, as she caught Robert's warning glare. "Some people are idiots, okay? But who cares? You just keep doing what you're doing" and with that she leaned down, pressing a kiss to Rafael's forehead.

Sincerely, one moment Lily was on his good side and now he needed to have a serious talk with the vampire about her use of language while she was around the kids. It seemed like Lily Chen couldn't stay away from trouble.

"You'll be alright" the vampire said then, standing up. "Now, give me a kiss" she ordered, this time to Max, as she turned her head, offering the warlock her right cheek; Max happily complied. "Take care of yourselves and have fun at Idris."

"Miss Chen" Robert started, before she had the time to turn on her heels and leave with no other words. "Thank you," Lily laughed.

"Don't call me that!" she snorted. "Miss Chen! No one has called me by that name in, what, seventy years? I'm Lily for you, Inquisitor or not."

"Well, Lily, I―"

"If you call me 'Miss Chen' one more time I'll call you Mister L. forever and ever and, trust me, a century is a very long time, let alone eternity!"

Robert was tempted to roll his eyes. One time. One time he wanted to apologize and thank a vampire for her services and no―she had to keep interrupting him for nimieties. That was why he disliked vamps―they couldn't keep any formality.

And this was the head of a clan, for the Angel's sake.

However, when he turned to look at her, her smile seemed kinder and the mischievous glint in her eyes was just that―mischievous, but not malicious.

"We'll settle for our given names, then" Robert said.

"Sounds fair" she nodded, still grinning. "Well, you're finally here and I'm supposed to meet with Maia soon, so, we'll see each other around" Lily offered, raising a hand to wave goodbye at them.

They had never done this whole greeting/farewell thing, Robert dwelled on suddenly. Most of times they merely ignored each other.

"Certainly" he nodded, thinking that, of course they'd see each other―at the kid's birthday parties, at work, on every family gathering.

They had been family for years and it had taken a bigot and his big mouth for him to realize it.

Life did take some interesting turns, Robert thought as he watched Lily turn on her heels and care-freely exit the Institute ―her black locks, a strand painted red, not as bothering as it had been before―, he ought to know that by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say that I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot. Working with Robert, surprisingly enough, has become quite fun and heart-warming, at least when it concerns this story. Working with Lily was surprising―I didn't know what she'd want to do next. I hope it doesn't seem OOC.
> 
> *1: If any of you, by mere chance (I had to go back and make sure I was writing the correct name myself), recognizes the name, Thomas also appears in "The Simplest of Answers" well, actually, he's only mentioned because he'll probably be my bigot OC from now on.
> 
> This is all for now, I really hope I can get the two missing chapters out during the weekend―I swear they are already written, but I still have to transcribe and edit.
> 
> I love you all and read yo soon!


	14. Chocolate Cookies and Apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This supposedly had been published like a month ago, along with chapter 15, but for some strange reason I still don't understand, it appears it didn't update, so.... here it goes.
> 
> Well, hi! I said you'd get the missing chapters during the weekend, and here I am, publishing just in time!
> 
> Okay, now, remember all that time ago when I asked for prompts with Maryse because Robert was appearing pretty often but I didn't have anything planned with her? I thought hard on it, because it seemed unfair to me that only half of the grandparents was here and... finally, after a long time I got a plot that I am happy with.
> 
> I don't really know why (maybe it is the conversation they share during Born to Endless Night), but I get the feeling that, once they make amends, Maryse and Magnus actually become good friends; well, at least, Magnus is closer to his mother-in-law than he is to Robert, just like I have the headcanon in my head of Robert reaching a point in which he actually likes Catarina. Just me and my ideas, let me be.
> 
> So, this is overdue as it is, so I'll leave you too read!

If you had told Magnus Bane that one day he would be directing himself to the New York Institute to pick up his son after letting him under Maryse Lightwood's care, he would have laughed.

Though, to be fair, if only three years in the past you had told Magnus Bane that he'd have a son to leave with Maryse Lightwood ―who, by the way, was his grandmother―, he probably would have cried after laughing too hard.

Yet, here he was, not laughing anymore as he stood in front of the New York Institute, waiting for Maryse Lightwood ―whom his child called "gra'ma"― to come out. And, somewhere, Raphael and Ragnor were laughing at him and his foolishness.

It was soon after he knocked that he heard the hurried, somewhat clumsy steps of his son as he ran towards the door.

"Papa's here, papa's here!" he heard Max call and he couldn't help the smile that graced his features.

"We don't know if it's your Papa yet," Maryse laughed as she unlocked the door.

Sure enough, Magnus could have teleported to the inside of the Institute by using a portal, he could have just opened the door―but, if he actually knocked at the door, he gave Maryse enough time to hide the cookies Alec had repeatedly told her not to give to Max. If he didn't see the cookies ―even when he did notice the crumbs in Max's hands, cheeks and hair― then he wasn't hiding anything from Alexander, right?

"Well, look who's here," Maryse chuckled when Max bolted to wrap his arms around Magnus' waist.

"Hey there, Blueberry," the warlock greeted, ruffling the dark hair of his son.

"I told gra'ma it was you!" the boy said excitedly.

"He did," Maryse conceded, stepping back to allow Magnus to walk into the antique church. It wasn't until they reached the library that Maryse's smile lost its brilliance as a frown made its way to her face, making her loving eyes look haunted somehow.

"Magnus, can I… can I speak to you for a second?" she said in a voice that reeked of nervousness as she sent a rapid look to Max. "Alone?"

Nodding, a seriousness that he hadn't bore while at the Institute for a long time spread across his features, Magnus patted the small warlock's arm.

"Go get your things, Max" he ordered softly and then, as soon as his son had left the room. "What happened, Maryse?"

"Happened? Nothing happened, why would you―" she started nervously, only to sigh when Magnus shot a glare in her direction. There… there was an accident with Max today―don't worry, you saw him, he's alright… In fact, I'd be all to cover the accident if it weren't because it was slightly… unsettling."

"What happened?" Magnus asked again.

"Well, we were in the sitting room and I was tickling him, you know, the most innocent thing" she explained, her cheeks slightly tainted pink. "And then, I'm not sure what happened, but there was a spark, a green spark that landed on a lamp, you 've seen it, the white one with the sunset painted in the front? Anyhow, the lamp broke. I told Max it had just cracked because it was old, but I… I think it was him."

Feeling his shoulders stiffen at the last of Maryse's words, Magnus exhaled heavily. Of course, he thought, of course. Every single time things appeared to be going fine, something had to happen and wreck everything. He should have expected something like this to occur, it was only natural, after all.

In honor of the truth, though, he had talked about the magical outbursts Max was prone to have―but he had only done so with Alexander.

To be honest, some of the people that mattered ―Lily, Maia, Catarina― didn't have to be explained anything, they were downworlders, they knew about not controlling one-self's power because they had abilities of their own that hadn't always wielded to their will.

However, he had forgotten that the other half of his family was constituted by shadowhunters, and he hadn't been bothered to make a comment on what would happen once Max's magic grew stronger and his control over it wasn't yet ready.

Though, if he were to be honest, Magnus had thought they had more time. Max was too young, much too young―he was about to turn three, only three years old, he shouldn't yet be worrying about breaking cutlery or accidentally starting a fire. He shouldn't be burdened now with something he'd carry for the rest of an immortal life.

Magnus had though that they had at least until Max turned five to discuss the matter and make their shadowhunter relatives aware that, as Mac grew up and until he learned to control his powers, small ―and sometime snot so small― outbursts of it would happened.

Maybe it was because most warlocks weren't surrounded by other warlocks and magic items as a regular basis, while Max had always seen Cat and him perform magic as if it were normal―because it was normal, and nothing to be ashamed of.

Either way, it was too late now―he hadn't said anything.

And now here he was, already listening to the condemnation in Maryse's words, already noticing the fear in the way she spoke about untamed magic being performed in her domains. So much for changes, he thought bitterly.

"Sometimes, when warlocks are young and have yet to learn how to bend their magic, they have these… magic outbursts, if you will. Somewhat like the first time a vampire or a werewolf transform. I mean, in the sense that they don't control themselves," he started to explain in a laconic voice, under Maryse's worried expression. "Though, for some reason, it's harder on warlocks than on the other downworlders, perhaps because they are born with magic, it's in their very nature. The powers they can't control run in their blood, it's not powers they've acquired after being bitten. Well, that is excluding the fae folk."

"What?" the woman uttered, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Magnus merely ignored her and continued talking.

"I wanted to tell you, I swear I wanted to warn you about it, but I thought―I thought that he had more time" he said in a small voice, as if he were apologizing.

And then it dwelled on him―apologizing was the equivalent of saying that he was ashamed of his son's magic. And he wasn't, he wasn't any more abashed by this incident than he was of the boy's blue skin or growing horns. If Maryse Lightwood ―Maryse Lightwood, of all people― couldn't understand that and didn't love Max enough to stick with him until the young warlock actually knew his way with his powers, then there was no point in losing his time explaining anything to her.

"I'll fix the lamp, if that's what you're worried about," he offered sternly.

"Who's talking about the lamp, Magnus?" Maryse tried to get his attention once again, her lips curved downwards in a grimace. The warlock ignored her once more. "What are you―"

"We'll find someone else to look after him in the mornings, Maryse, don't be concerned. It won't happen again. I'm sorry that his first outburst had to be here exactly."

"What? Magnus, you don't have to find anyone else to watch after him, for the Angel's sake!" she said, too flabbergasted to completely process the warlock's words.

That was the exact moment Max chose to re-enter the room, a small, green backpack hanging from his shoulders, a childish grin in his lips and cookie crumbs on both his face and his chubby hands. Maryse hadn't stored the tray high enough, no doubt, Magnus thought, noticing the new wave of hurt and bitterness that overflew him because why couldn't a child be allowed to smile so care-freely for a little longer until he had to be hunched under such a weight?

Maryse saw it, too, the way, all too subtle in which Magnus took a step forward, hiding Max from her view, as if to protect his son from a threat―as if to protect him from her, from his grandmother.

And then all the small pieces started to fall into their places.

"Oh, Magnus…" she let out softly, feeling a pang of both guilt and hurt throb in her chest. "You don't have to find anyone else to watch after him. I love him, just like he is," she offered simply.

"Pardon me?" Magnus uttered, looking like he, too, needed to process his interlocutor's words.

"Look, I get it. I have a history of not being the most understanding when it comes to these things, but, Magnus… he's my grandson" she all but whispered. "I don't care about the lamp" she added, as if she were pointing out something obvious.

And, like that, she got to her knees and extended her arms.

"Max, sweetheart, can you come over?" she asked gently. The young warlock, who had stayed on the doorway, sensing the tense atmosphere, perked his face from behind Magnus' legs. Giving a small nod to his son, Magnus allowed Max to run to his grandmother's expecting embrace.

Maryse hugged him, held the small, blue warlock close to her body, not minding that Max's fingers stained her cheek with chocolate or how, in doing so, she got cookie crumbs in her hair.

It was then that something clicked in Magnus' head. He was so stupid, he thought to himself. He was so stupid.

Here he was, making a fuss over something so innocent, already judging Maryse before she even had a chance of finishing talking.

The frown in her brow hadn't been of disgust, but of worry; her pursed lips were concern, not contempt, and her eyes reflected a deep sadness at not understanding that seemed more like wistfulness now.

Maryse wasn't mad. She had been merely pointing out an incident, recognizing she was unable to help her grandson and he had gone berserk on her.

"Go with your papa" Maryse cut off his train of thought, pressing a kiss to Max's temple before she stood up. Obediently, Max nodded and ran to stand next to Magnus, taking his right hand in his.

With a tender smile, Maryse raised her gaze to look into Magnus' eyes. He stared back at her, feeling regret, guilt and gratefulness at the same time.

"Oh, Magnus…" she said. "I'm not mad, don't even think that, of course I'm not mad. It was an accident, and trust me, I know. I raised four children―things get broken, warlocks or not."

"I'm sorry, Maryse" he exhaled, his voice low because of the shame he felt burning in his throat. "I shouldn't have assumed that you―"

"Don't worry, my dear" she cut him with a smile. "I don't care about the lamp. I mean, if he had stumbled on it while running around or if he'd dropped it I wouldn't have mentioned it. I… I felt I had to tell you because it seemed… magical, and I'm only a little over an ignorant when it comes to magic."

"That's not truth―"

"It is!" Maryse laughed lightly, though her giggling seemed somewhat strained. "Up until now it had never occurred to us ―I mean Robert and I and most of the shadowhunters I knew before Alec started dating you― it had never occurred to us that warlocks aren't born controlling their powers, that they grow into them and it makes perfect sense they do! It's natural, they're only children! It seems so obvious now I feel foolish! Shadowhunters, need to training as well, Angelic powers or not!"

They're only children, Magnus repeated in his head, incapable of stopping his astonishment from showing in his features. How long had he waited for a shadowhunter to say that of his kind? How long had he hoped that one day they realize that they were only children?

"I'm truly sorry, Maryse, it wasn't my intention to―" he started to say, but she laughed gently, with relief.

"You're sorry, Magnus? I am sorry, I was being ignorant. You were protecting your child" she smiled. "Magnus, I know we have a history, but we had agreed it to put it behind us" she added in a thin voice.

"I know, Maryse, and I try to live up to that pledge, but sometimes… it's hard."

"And some things won't stay where you put them, will they?" she nodded. "Trust me, I know. And I understand."

They smiled at each other, letting a long time go before either of them spoke again, which Max dedicated to pull Magnus' shirt, silently asking him to hold him, to what the older warlock happily complied.

"A lamp is not even that bad, trust me" Maryse said. "When Jace and Isabelle were young they broke a whole dinnerware service" she continued, making Magnus raise an amused eyebrow.

"Those troublemakers."

"Indeed!" the woman nodded. "It was magic, you see, I've been having trouble with it long before you guys appeared. So, the kids saw one of this mundane magicians somewhere and they decided to imitate him, for which they settled a white tablecloth and my complete set of Chinese porcelain silverware on the table. Supposedly, they would pull the tablecloth away and my cutlery would stay where it was―on the table. That didn't happen. I was only able to save one cup."

"How old were they?" Magnus inquired, pleased.

"Ten and eleven" Maryse replied. "And then, of course, I gave them the scolding of their lives and ordered them to pick up the mess they'd made."

"Let me guess" Magnus interrupted. "They didn't do it."

"No, Isabelle and Jace were a little busy being lazy to be bothered with a broom and a dustpan. It was Alexander who fixed it, you see, Max―" she paused for only a fraction of a second, blinking the memories away. "Max already walked at the time, but he still preferred to crawl from time to time, and Alec, was scared of his baby brother hurting himself because of the other two, so he took it upon himself to stop that from happening, my sweet boy."

It was then, as she looked at Maryse's loving smile that he decided he was a complete idiot for confusing this Maryse with the woman she had been twenty years in the past.

"That certainly is an incident to talk about" Magnus nodded with a grin. "Though, Lady, I understand I still owe you an apology" he said, taking her right hand to kiss her knuckles. "I can't tomorrow, but how about I take you out for breakfast on Saturday?"

"Won't your fiancé be mad at you if I accept?" Maryse deadpanned.

"We can take him us then, though I don't think he'd mind it much if he learns I'm going out with someone as lovely" he winked. Maryse rolled her eyes at him, too used to Magnus' dramatic acting to mind it any more.

"Saturday morning it is then," she nodded. "But I want Alexander there, and… I might have some left over cookies, too, in case you're interested. That is" she said pointedly looking at Max. "If someone didn't eat them all."

"Don't tell him I ate the cookies!" Max giggled in his father's arms.

On their side, Magnus and Maryse shared an impish glance.

"I promise not to tell Alexander" Magnus offered. "Though, if, come his bedtime, Max is still high on sugar I'll blame you."

"Well, I'm an old woman, doesn't that earn me the right to have my fun?" Maryse shrugged, despite the fact that she didn't act or look old at all. "Besides, you know what they say―it's a parent's duty to educate and raise their children. It's a grandparent's duty to pamper said children. And I like to do well at my job."

Magnus laughed as he followed her into the kitchen, he couldn't help it.

Who would have thought, it was not only Maryse out of the two of them who had acted like an ignorant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And? How did that go!
> 
> I really hope you liked it and, if you did, please, please comment to let me know your thoughts!


	15. Not a Complaint, But a Statement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... here I am again. I'd said you'd get a chapter for each week I had of vacations, so here we are. This, sadly, is the last chapter of this small special, but I hope at least I gave you a run for your money.
> 
> Now, I am once again feeling I'm unfair with one of the characters because, despite the fact that I mention Lily, Maia and Catarina all the time, I've only ever written chapters with Lily and Cat, and what makes it worse—Lily got her chapter and all, but this is Cat's second chapter and... I have nothing planned for Maia... I feel terrible. If you have any ideas, please feel free to tell me so I can make up to her.
> 
> With nothing more to say... I hope you enjoy this little something!

The Lightwood-Bane household was crowded more often than not, and admitting that aloud was not a complaint, but a mere statement.

Although, truth to tell, it had been Magnus and Alec on their own accord the ones that had ensured a full house for themselves, with Alec still inviting Maia and Lily over, even when they now had an office at the Institute, all fixed-up for them, and with Magnus not minding when they did so either.

However, that did not mean that everything for the Lightwood-Bane couple had to be about work. Oh, no, far from that, when their apartment became cramped in true, it was when their friends —their family—came over. They didn't need a reason to get to together—the simple fact that they enjoyed spending time with each other was enough.

This was one of those days: Catarina —Cat, for short— was going to spend the afternoon with them. It wasn't a special day or anything, though it was as good a day as any other to share their time with the female warlock.

Catarina, a long-known friend of Magnus had been welcomed into the family along Lily, Maia, Rafael and Max. Their children called all three of the downworlder girls "aunts" and Magnus couldn't think of anything cutter.

They didn't know for sure when or how it had started. Perhaps it was that Max saw Isabelle and Clary in the exact same way in which he saw the downworlder ladies —he had reasons to do so, since they were at the apartment as much as the shadowhunter girls were, and Alexander and him had always treated them as family— and thus he had never understood there was a difference between them.

Rafael, surely enough, was merely imitating his brother, like he did on many other matters. None of the girls had minded, either, which was a bonus.

Not until then, at least.

Perhaps Magnus should have noticed something was off as soon as he opened the door, but he had barely said "Hi, Cat, how was your d–" before the boys —seven and five nor, respectively— pushed him aside, fighting to get their aunt's attention.

"Aunt Cat, aunt Cat, guess what? I finally summoned a butterfly yesterday!"

"Aunt Cat, Dad said I could start training with a real bow next week!"

"Aunt Cat, I—"

"Boys" Magnus cut them off, noticing for the first time the sad glow in his friend's eyes and the tiredness her posture gave away. "Let the woman breathe."

"But we were just—"

"I have an idea" Catarina said, forcing a small smile. Sure enough, she was many things, but she wasn't about to let those children down only because she felt weary. "Why don't you tell me all about it while we eat supper? You can both sit by my side, one at the right and the other one at the left, how does that sound?"

"Yes!" they both shouted in unison.

"And meanwhile you give Catarina and I a minute to say hi properly" Magnus agreed, before they started fighting over who of them got to sit at what side of Cat. Honestly, this parenting thing was hard. "Go help your dad set the table."

"But papa—"

"Stop whining, Catarina and I were already good friends before either of you were fetuses, now go away," he ordered.

Despite their huffs and the way they dragged their feet, soon enough the boys complied.

"Alright, now that the little monsters are gone, tell me what it is" Magnus said, finally closing the door that had been left open at the boys' appearance.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Catarina all but mumbled.

"Catarina, c'mon, you're better than this" Magnus replied, keeping his voice low in case the children returned. He looked at her right in the eye, as if daring her to repeat that there was nothing bothering her now that he saw oh-so clearly the black bags under her eyes. Catarina sighed

"You shouldn't allow them to call me that" she muttered at last, with a smile that was both apologetic and exhausted.

"Call you what?"

"Aunt Cat" she replied softly, cherishing the words as they left her lips. "I'm not… I'm not their aunt."

"What are you talking about? Of course you are," Magnus replied, almost in automatic, finding Catarina's words to be senseless. For five years —for as long as he'd been that boy's papa— Catarina had been their aunt and there had been nothing to discuss.

"No, Magnus, I'm not," she insisted in a frail voice.

Puzzled by his friend's weird acting, Magnus furrowed his brow.

"You know that if you want to be that strict when it comes to blood relations, then I'm not their father either, don't you?" he retorted, trying to keep talking in a kind tone of voice, even when he did not understand why, all of a sudden, Catarina seemed so self-conscious, as she fidgeted with her hands and looked back at the door almost longingly.

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Cat said. "Of course you and Alec are their parents. I mean, you care for them, you watch after—"

"And just like that you deserve to be known as their aunt, you are their aunt. Cat, you love them, they adore you and you've been around long before I even met Alexander, I—"

"Thank you, Magnus, truly. From the bottom of my heart. But that's not true" Catarina insisted, that wistful expression placed upon her features making her seem both older and younger than the twenty years she appeared to have—older because the longing glimmering in her eyes gave away the many things she had seen in her years; younger because, somewhere, somehow, there was hope, hiding and trembling behind her blue irises.

"Catarina, you can't mean what you're saying."

"Magnus, we both know—"

"Stop it" he cut her off, maybe a little harshly. "I don't know where all of this self-depreciation came out, but I don't care and you need to stop it. You have as much a right to be called their aunt as Izzy or Clary do and, deep down, you know that as well as I do. "

"Magnus," she started softly, as if ashamed, as if pleading. "I am not what—"

"You're like my sister," the older warlock blurted out rather unceremoniously, startling Catarina. "You're the only one of my friends who is still here, I mean, the only one who was there when I did what I did in Peru, you're the one I asked help from if my date with Alexander went wrong" he continued, barely thinking his words through before he said them.

"Oh, Magnus…" she let out in a sigh after a silent moment during which her friend's eyes hadn't left hers, not even when her jaw dropped and formed a surprised "o", not even when the sudden outburst of sincerity had tainted Magnus' cheeks with a soft shadow of pink.

"I mean it, Cat, all of it," he continued. "Before… before Alexander and the children came around, you guys were my only family. You asked if I had eaten when I called you and you reminded me of my coat when we went out together. As the time went by, I just… I came to think of you as my older sister."

"You're older than I am," she argued with a watery chuckle.

"Yes, of course, but up until five years ago I didn't act nowhere near someone half of my age," Magnus brushed off. "Besides, I was talking about the way in which you… you took care of me, Cat, damn, you still do."

"You saved my life," she whispered in a small voice. "It was the least I could do to thank you."

"Oh, my dear" Magnus said, imitating her soft voice. "Not letting you die was the least I could do. Those imbeciles. Your life is worth more than a hundred of theirs, I hope you know that. And besides, the fact that I saved your life once doesn't mean that you had to look after me for more than three hundred years."

Denying with her head, a gentle smile in her lips, Catrina replied: "I owe you all of what I have to you—my life, my job, my family. They were wrong, killing innocent people, but I am not special. The only thing that distinguished me is that, thanks to my very peculiar hero, I didn't die."

"You don't own your job to me, Catarina, you fought tooth and nail to get where you are," Magnus muttered, astonished. "You save lives because that's what you were born to do, it's your passion."

"Perhaps it is so, but I wouldn't be of any good to 'save lives' if I were dead myself, would I?" she answered. "A kind soul decided I was worth saving. I am repaying a debt, you could say, by doing the same thing—saving lives."

Opening her arms for her, Magnus waited until she felt ready and stepped forward, drawing her blue arms around his neck and resting her head on his right shoulder.

"Cat, what happened?" he asked gently against her platinum locks.

"It was a bad day at the hospital," she answered, knowing that was only half of the truth. A hard day? It had been a hectic week, and exhausting month and an actrocious year. Teenagers kept coming in pregnant, children arrived injured after school fights, heavily abused women refused to answer anything other than 'I fell in the shower' when asked about arms that were not broken but crushed, as many times as the bone had cracked. But that wasn't new—her gloomy state found its reason to be in something else, she knew. "And tomorrow is the anniversary of my mother's death" she admitted, at last.

There was it, the truth—she was still grieving, after so many years, after more than three centuries. She was tired of being alone, of arriving to a tiny apartment that seemed too empty and too big for only her to ocupy. She was tired of working almost non-stop only to remember that the next morning she'd have just as mouch pendant work to do. She was exhaunted of it, yet she wouldn't change her life, she knew.

She wasn't ballyaching—she'd made her choices and now faced its consequences. It wasn't a complaint, but a mere statement.

"Let me guess," Magnus cut off her musings. "You don't think you deserve us."

And there it was. Bingo. A shot stright to the root of her sudden awkwardness when she was with the family, to her nervousness when the children shrieked excitedly at her arrival.

"When did you get so good at reading minds?" she muttered half-heartedly as she pulled away from him.

"When I had to guess what a two-year-old wanted" Magnus deadpaned.

"It's just that… you give me so much that sometimes I think —I know— that I will never be able to repay all of you for the kindness you've showed me."

"Let me see, you agree to baby-sit the boyse with two-hours notice even though you're busy as hell and they're a handful on good days, yet you say you don't repay us?" Magnus asked. "Such nonsense, Catarina, I thought you were cleverer. Besides, you don't owe us anything—we're family. And it's too late to back off now—a good part of what I know about family was taught to me by you."

"So, as long I baby-sit the boys I can come over?" she asked with a teasing smile that, apart from being more genuine than any of the ones she'd offered that day, was also so tender and grateful that it made Magnus want to take her into his arms once again. "I don't have much time left, then—soon they'll be able to watch after themselves."

"Nonsense, they'll need someone to stop them from doing stupid things until they're twenty."

"Overprotective dad here" Catarina laughed lightly, whole-heartedly.

"Let me be!" he retorted, as Alec's voice was carried away from the kitchen to the entrance.

"Magnus, why is Catarina still at the door?" he questioned and then, with new orders from Alexander, the kids came back.

"Papa, dad said you should take aunt Cat to the table."

"Yes, like a gentleman," Max seconded.

"Magnus, a gentleman?" Catarina giggled. "Why don't you scort me to the table, then? I think it's a better idea" she proposed, offering one of her arms to each boy, causing more childish laughs.

"There, the treason of my closest, dearest friend!" Magnus said, dramatically taking his left arm to his forehead.

"Stop overreacting!" Alec scolded from the kitched.

"Come here and give me a proper hug," Cat told the boys, getting on her knees so that she was only slightly taller than Rafe.

Silently, Magnus watched her exhale a relieved sigh when the small arms of the boys circled her neck; silently, he smiled as she seemed to draw strength from the improvised embrace.

When she straightened herself again, picking Max up to suport him with her left hip —not seeming to mind the fact that he was getting much too big to be carried around like that—, Rafael's hand in hers, the smile across her lips was sincere, almost too big for her heart-shapped face. The bags under her eyes were still there, but now she looked joyful, content.

"Boys, leave your aunt room to breathe!"

"None of that, Bane!" she said back. "You said I could keep them, so deal with me."

Magnus couldn't help it, he smiled, as he followed the female warlock and his children into the kitched.

Oh, what a thing it was to have a crowded house and a numerous family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I want to start by saying that I love Cat to bits, alright? I don't even know why, but I'm very fond of her, and making her sad hurt me too, but... just... oh, my, the children, and Magnus comforting her was too much and I couldn't handle it. I meant, c'mon, she has a family despite the fact that she never married the man she loved (and that loved her, too) because she was too focused on her job; she's not alone despite the fact that her mother and all of her other friends are gone.
> 
> This chapter, too, wouldn't have been able toget here if not for the wonderful JelloDVDs and her touching story "Saving Catarina". Yes, I know I have already mentioned them, but I had forgotten how Cat and Magnus met and I probably wouldn't have remembered if not for that story, so here goes nothing.
> 
> Please keep in mind what I asked about Maia and if you have any idea please let me know!
> 
> Also, as I mentioned earlier, this is the last chapter I wrote during my vacations. I don't know for real when the next update will be. I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything. Expect (but don't get your hopes too high, either, I feel terrible thinking I'll dissapoint you) chapter 16 for the last days of February.
> 
> I love you all and I'm looking forward to your comments!


	16. A New Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Peeks worriedly from behind the theatre cutains*
> 
> Okay, I know I said I'd have this ready for February, and you see, I actually had something ready... the draft. Now, you know how old-fashioned I am... I always do my drafts by hand, and with everything going on I hadn't had time to actually transcribe and publish, but here we are now.
> 
> As a peace offering, I'll post two chapters today, hoping to make it better.
> 
> Now, I think this is long overdue already, so... I hope you enjoy!
> 
> PD: in this story Max is supposed to be around five and I have to apologize because I've never been around children, not even siblings or cousins, so I tried to drop some grammar mistakes and mispronunciation in his speech to make up for my ignorance, but if there is something that seems weird or if you want to point something out to me, please feel free to do so!
> 
> Also! This is some months before Rafael's adoption, that's why he's not even mentioned here.

If someone had told Robert Lightwood that, one day, not very far in the future, he would be cradling a warlock child in his lap as he tickled the blue boy he would have rolled his eyes. If someone had warned Robert Lightwood that one day a little warlock would look up at him and claim "Gra'pa", arms stretched out to be picked up and a smile big and trusting enough to make Robert smile back, he would have laughed. If someone had foreseen that Robert would love a downworlder child as if he were his own flesh and blood, he would have thought said someone was going crazy.

He should have known better.

Currently, he was sitting at the library of the Institute, a newspaper lazily sprawled on his legs while he kept an eye on Max, who was busying himself with building blocks, laughing gleefully once every couple of minutes.

He was supposed to keep an eye on Max for the day while Alec attended a meeting with the vampire clan of New Jersey and Magnus sorted out some things with a picky werewolf that had asked for his services. Looking over his reading material Robert couldn't help the smile that climbed to his lips.

Noticing his grandfather's heavy gaze, Max stopped his game and looked up, returning Robert's smile.

Folding the newspaper to put it away, Robert gestured for Max to approach him. Without a second thought, Max walked over to the couch Robert was sitting on. Jumping on his chubby legs, Max struggled to climb the couch, crawling to Robert's lap soon enough.

"What are you building, buddy?" Robert inquired, wrapping his arms around the small warlock.

"Castle," Max smiled, nodding repeatedly.

"A big one, it seems," the shadowhunter laughed, to what Max nodded some more.

For a long while, they remained in silence as Robert marveled at the simple domesticity of holding a child, of loving and being loved in return.

"Gra'pa, I ask something," Max declared after a while, playing with the buttons of Robert's shirt.

"Can I ask something?" Robert corrected gently.

"I ask something," Max repeated, waiting for his grandfather to nod before continuing. "What's the Circle?"

No sooner had the words left Max's heart-shaped lips than the color was drained from the shadowhunter's features. The smile that had adorned Robert's lips until then froze and his fingers stiffened where they'd been playing with the warlock's locks, He swallowed hardly.

"The… the Circle you said?" he questioned, forcing his voice to not falter. Max, oblivious to his inner turmoil nodded vigorously.

"Uncle Jace and Dad talked about the Circle," he declared. "I asked uncle Jace what it as, but he said 'Forget it!'" Max continued, mimicking out Jace's expression with a furrowed brow and what he tried to make come out as a stern voice, although it sounded too high to be taken seriously. "But you always tell me 'Max, don't listen Jace', so I ask you now."

"To Jace, Max, I always tell you not to listen to Jace," Robert corrected numbly, his reply mechanic.

"To uncle Jace," Max repeated dismissively, his eyes turned to his grandfather in expectation. "But what the Cir-Circle?"

"The… the Circle," Robert echoed unceremoniously, feeling all over again as if the oxygen had been drained from his lungs, leaving only his dry throat behind. "Max, I don't think I should―"

"Pwease?" the little warlock inquired, pouting slightly, just enough for Robert to feel bad if he denied an answer to him.

Then again, of course Robert had known that someday he would have to look at Max in the eye and tell him that, not far away in the past, Maryse and him had opposed to the relationship of his parents. More importantly, he had been aware all along that, one day, he'd have to hold Max's hand and confess to him, with shame and regret and pain that he'd not always been the loving grandfather he knew, that only a few years aback he'd been backward and bigoted and a murderer.

Robert Lightwood knew very well that lying only made things more complicated than they had to be and that, if one lived surrounded by lies for long, the moment of the truth only became more painful. He knew there'd come a time in which he could have to come out clean to his young grandson―he had just hoped they'd have more time before Max stopped looking up at him with such trusting, beautiful eyes. He'd just prayed that they'd have more time before his grandson learned about the monster he was.

"I… I don't think I should tell you, or at least not all of it," Robert offered at last. "This is an… an adults' thing, okay?" he continued, his breath hitching. On his side, Max pouted again and Robert could only smile with pain at what he would surely loose very soon. "You'll learn more as you get older, but I can tell you a little today, is that alright?"

"Yes, yes!" Max clapped with excitement. Holding him to make sure he didn't fall off the couch, Robert sighed, the shadow of memory darkening his eyes.

"Long ago," he began. "There was a group of bad people, bad shadowhunters," he corrected. "And they… they did bad things. They thought they were better than everyone else, that the world was meant to have a special place for them, because they were stronger than others."

"Dad says Uncle Jace thinks he's better than everyone," Max interrupted with a scowl. "But uncle Jace isn't bad."

"No, Jace isn't bad," Robert smiled weakly, biting back his next remark―Jace had never killed innocents as a consequence of is boastful attitude. "But these shadowhunters were and they called themselves the Circle."

»They didn't like downworlders, like you or your papa, and they… they hunted them down."

"Like Dad hunts down demons?" Max inquired in confusion.

"Yes, like that," Robert nodded.

"But shadowhunters and downworlders are friends!" the boy replied. "Like Aunt Lily and Dad and Aunt Cat and Papa!"

"They are now, but these shadowhunters didn't like downworlders, they thought they were bad, because they were different," Robert tried to explain, making a fuss with his hands to illustrate. "Remember that woman in the park who said your parents shouldn't be together because they're both boys?" he offered, waiting for Max to nod before he continued. "The Circle was like that―they didn't like what was different. They feared it."

"That lady was mean."

"Well, the Circle was mean too, worse than that woman," Robert sighed, feeling his chest contract at the way Max's brow furrowed, deep in thought, as if he couldn't conceive a world in which that was possible, a world in which the malicious remark of an old woman wasn't the worse there was to hear, a world in which shadowhunters thought of themselves so highly that they forgot the humanity of the downworlders.

"Dad says different is good, it makes us spe-special," the little warlock declared at last.

"And your dad is right," Robert replied gently, marveling once again at the fact that people full of prejudices and painful ideas as Maryse and him had managed to raise someone as loving and forging as Alexander.

"Differences are good. Like, like wawlocks, they have magic and they heal shadowhunters, like Dad and Papa, and welwolves help keep mundanes away from the vam-vampire nests during day, like Aunt Lily and Aunt Maia and that way we all happy, because we help each other!"

"Indeed," the shadowhunter nodded. "But the Circle thought we'd be happier if there were only shadowhunters, with no vampires or werewolves or… or warlocks."

Silently, Robert watched Max bite his lip in concentration, as if he had to stop and make an effort to consider what his grandfather was saying.

"That's mean," Max decided at last, his voice so sad that Robert had to stop himself from leaning down to pull the boy closer to him. "Downwolders aren't bad."

"No, they aren't," Robert all but whispered, letting his finger ghost over the warlock's cheeks. "But they thought they were."

After that came silence―dense, unnatural, something that shouldn't have been there. An infant Max's age shouldn't be trying to imagine a time of history in which half of his family tried to annihilate the other half of it. Oh, and how badly, terribly, longingly did Robert wish he wouldn't be forced to do it.

Now that he was older and ―at least he wanted to believe he was― a little wiser, Robert recognized the importance of honesty.

He wanted nothing more than to take Max into his arms and shield his ears from the truth, he yearned to pretend that the horrors of what Valentine had done ―with his and Maryse's help― were nothing but an invented stories to scare naughty children, like the bogeyman Simon and Clary joked about.

On the other hand, Robert also knew that it'd hurt his little boy much more to learn about the dark past of his family later, and it'd be even worse of he learned so by someone else, say a malicious shadowhunter or a misfortunate comment.

If after coming clean his grandchild decided that he wasn't trustworthy, that he was scared of him, then at least Robert would have the bittersweet comfort of the memories of Max's carefree laugh.

"I… Maxie, there's something else I want to tell you," he began, short from a whisper. "But I need you to be brave for me, okay? Can you do that?"

"Like Dad when he goes dem-demon hunting?" he asked curiously.

"Like your dad when he goes demon hunting," Robert conceded. "Though, for the record, your dad is always brave, demons or not," he added in a second thought, recalling the countless times in which, during a meeting someone as close-minded as he'd been made a sarcastic remark about Alec's relationship with Magnus or about the warlock child they were raising together.

Alec always remained quiet when that happened, perhaps too used to being treated in such a way, perhaps recognizing that there was no use in explaining the validity of his feelings for Magnus and of their relationship to someone thick as a bucket of shit.

Robert couldn't do that. He felt his blood boil every single time one of those bigoted Clave members decided they could have a saying in the way his family lived. Sometimes, Alec himself had told him to let it go, to calm down when Robert was a little too close to punching someone. Whenever Alec reassured him that it was fine, that the best one could do was ignore those jerks Robert didn't fail to notice how resigned his son sounded. And every single time he realized the pain behind Alec's statement Robert's breath halted in his lips.

The fact that barely six years in the past he would have sided with those assholes instead of with his son didn't make it any better.

"Max," Robert continued after a long pause, taking a deep breath. "I… the Circle started around twenty years, you know?"

"That's a looot," the young warlock decided, forcing a smile on Robert's lips at his exaggerated pronunciation.

"It is," he agreed. "Over time, when the other shadowhunters realized the Circle was bad they fought against it and they won," he added gravely. "But, a few years ago, the Circle came back. There was a huge fight, and once again, the good shadowhunters won over the Circle, with the help of warlocks like your Papa and Catarina and vampires and werewolves."

"Like Aunt Lily and Aunt Maia!" Max clapped cheerily. "That's good! It means no more bad shadowhunters!"

If only it were that simple, my boy, if only, Robert thought wistfully.

"Yes, it was very good," he said instead, not wanting to say anything about Max's last statement, not when Alec and Magnus were still forced to listen to Thomas Hightower's bigoted comments, not when they were equally attacked when they were around mundanes.

No, Robert didn't want to admit that there were still a good number of bad shadowhunters, mundanes and downworlders, not when Magnus and Alec had done such a wonderful job shielding their son from it that Max still had the naïveté of ignoring their existence.

There was, however, one thing that Robert had to say.

"Max, when… when the Circle first started I… I was part of it."

Gasping, Max recoiled in Robert's lap, albeit the fact that she didn't try to scoot very further away from him, his eyes denouncing more surprise than they did horror.

"But… but they were bad!" Max whispered in a shaky voice, his eyes glassy. Oh, Robert thought, how beautiful it was that the worst word Max knew was bad, how marvelous that his young mind was still too innocent to understand how atrocious the Circle had really been.

"They were," Robert recognized, feeling the weight of his words as they rolled off his tongue. "They were worse than bad, and anyone that thinks like the Circle did can't be a good person. But I… I was stupid and I thought they were… that they were right. How stupid I was! I… I know it's no excuse for what I did, Max, but I'm very sorry, more than you can imagine."

"Stupid is a bad word," Max complained softly.

"It is," the shadowhunter nodded as a bitter voice echoed in his mind that a bad word was fitting for a bad person.

He was brought back from his musings when Max's small hands reached up to cup his cheeks, a feather-like caress.

"You look sad," Max said, a worried tone taking the place of the scared one from before. "Is it because you helped those bad people?"

"It is, Blueberry," Robert sighed, forcing a weak smile for the sake of his grandchild. "I feel terrible that I hurt downworlders."

"Papa says that sometimes good people make mistakes and that those mistakes can be bad, but they don't make good people bad people," the little warlock explained. "You're not bad, gra'pa."

"Oh, Max…" Robert let out, finally leaning down to pull his boy closer to his chest, and if he shut his eyes tight enough to hold back the moisture that had gathered at the bottom of his eyes, then it was a good thing that Max didn't notice him doing so. "Your Papa is a very wise man, Max, never forget that," he said after some silent seconds, clearing his throat as he slowly pulled back.

"And he has magic!" Max declared, making a tiny fuss with his small hands.

"He does, just like you," the shadowhunter said, stroking Max's right cheek fondly. "And, Max, remember, if you turn out to be anything like your parents I will be endlessly proud of you," he concluded, genuinely smiling at the innocent curiosity in his grandson's eyes.

―*―*―

By the time Robert heard a knock on his door Max had already fallen sleep in his arms, head supported in the crook of the shadowhunter's elbow, surrendered to a blind trust that Robert couldn't fully explain after what he had just told him. A trust that, in all honesty, Robert was convinced he didn't deserve.

Careful not to disturb the small warlock, Robert rose from the couch and, ever so gently, placed Max back on it, considering it just a second before he took off his jacket and covered Max with it. He couldn't help a lopsided smile as Max nuzzled into the fabric of the cloth.

Surprised that the person at his door hadn't knocked a second time, Robert hurried to open it, revealing no other than Magnus Bane on the other side.

"Magnus," he greeted, stepping out of the doorway to allow the warlock to enter.

Magnus, ever so eccentric, had arranged his hair so it was falling in blue-glittered locks to the left side of his face, matching eyeliner surrounding his un-glamoured orbs. He wore a purple shirt with a deep v neck, not seeming to mind the cold weather. Hanging from his neck the warlock wore at least three different necklaces, each one a little shorter than the one before so they could each be appreciated separately. There were four rings around his fingers, among them, the Lightwood one Alec had given him after Max's adoption.

In another time, Robert would have stared back at Magnus in contempt. In another time he wouldn't have opened his door to a downworlder, especially not one dressed like that. Oh, but in that other time he wouldn't have had a young warlock sleeping on his couch, tucked with his very own jacket.

"Robert," Magnus echoed, a business-like undertone to his voice, just like every time the two of them spoke.

Over the years they had found a way to coexist and be civil around one another, if nothing else. Perhaps they weren't close, perhaps they weren't as trusting as they should have been, but they were civil, polite, and Magnus trusted Robert enough to watch over his child and not poison his mind, something that Robert sometimes doubted he even deserved, no matter how grateful he was that he'd been allowed to stay close to his family after all the damage he'd inflicted upon it.

It wasn't that he thought higher of himself than he did of Magnus or any other downworlder, for that matter. That was the point of it all―he'd learned from his previous mistakes and now he knew better.

It wasn't that Magnus actively avoided him either, or that he adopted a threatening demeanor whenever he was around his in-laws. Far from it, Magnus better than anyone, perhaps, understood the importance of family and he wanted to teach that to his child.

Life was both too short and too long to hold grudges.

No, it wasn't that either of them held a disdainful attitude towards the other, it was merely that they had yet to find a way to become close, and while they both had come to an agreement in favor Max having a safe environment and a united family instead of a gathering that ended up with broken cutlery and slamming doors, they'd only come to a peace accord because of the little warlock.

Perhaps that was their mistake―perhaps it was time they forgave each other for the sake of themselves. Perhaps it was time they started building a road for them to follow, one in which they all fitted, not only the new generation.

"Can I… can I have a word with you?" Robert inquired, unable to hold back a grimace when Magnus' laidback expression became more guarded.

"Did something happen?" Magnus asked back, a small scowl making its way to his forehead. Robert held back a bitter laugh, noting how, at the prospect of merely speaking with him Magnus immediately assumed something had gone wrong.

Oh, but he wasn't mistaken, was he? Something had happened, or had it not?

"It did, actually, but not… not the something you might be thinking of," Robert sighed, deciding to say it with no circumlocution when Magnus raised an eyebrow at him. "Max asked me about the Circle today."

"He did what?" the warlock asked, choking on his breath.

"He heard Alec and Jace speaking about it and, you know how children are, he asked me and…"

"I assume you told him off and―"

"I told him the truth," Robert interrupted, suddenly raising his gaze from the floor to look straight into Magnus' eyes.

"Pardon me?"

"It's… he had the right to know, Magnus, I couldn't lie to him," the shadowhunter tried to explain with a shaky voice.

"Where's Max?" Magnus inquired, raising his hands to push Robert out of the way, his calculating eyes searching for his son, a glimmer of something that was almost madness in his gaze.

"He's fine," Robert assured, catching Magnus by the arm before the warlock had time to get past him and storm into the library. "He's so… forgiving, so innocent. I… I didn't mention Maryse… that's her secret to tell, and I didn't tell him about the war, not much anyways, I didn't mention Sebastian, but he… he knows there were bad shadowhunters hurting downworlders and I think that's enough of a summary."

"You… you told him that?"

"I did," Robert managed, his eyes trained on Magnus.

"Why?" the warlock inquired, a confused tone making its way to his voice, his expression still defensive.

"Because hiding the truth won't result in anything good," the Lightwood answered gravely. "And because I don't want him to grow up thinking I'm a better person than I really am."

"You… you didn't have to do that," Magnus let out, eyes still scanning his interlocutor.

"I did, Magnus. I did," Robert replied gently. "And I want to tell you that I'm sorry. I am infinitely sorry for all I did," he continued, feeling the formality of his words slip away as his speech came out more rapidly. "I'm sorry I ever believed what Valentine said, I'm sorry for the way I treated Alec and, most of all, I'm sorry for the way I treated you."

For a moment, Magnus didn't say anything, too wrapped up in staring back at Robert, disbelief clear in his made-up features. At last, he raised his right arm to awkwardly pat the shadowhunter's shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright," he all but whispered.

"No, it isn't," Robert insisted, making a fuss with his hands to punctuate his words. "I could have killed you or Catarina. Had Max been born twenty years ago I could have killed him, Magnus, and I wouldn't have regretted it."

"It was war, Robert. For all that matters I could have killed you too."

"It's not the same," the shadowhunter replied. "I enjoyed killing. I genuinely believed that, once the world was cleaned of these… these soiled creatures it would be better… purer, that I… that I would be seen as a hero," he continued remorsefully. "I was so stupid. Oh, Angel, I… how many did I kill? How many did we kill? We showed no mercy for children or whatsoever, we murdered and we gloated of doing it."

"I have blood on my hands too, Robert," the warlock responded quietly.

"It's not the same, for the Angel's sake!" he said, almost shouting, a part of him still conscious of the small warlock sleeping soundly in the next room. "Downworlders were defending themselves, protecting each other. The shadowhunters of the Circle were just being assholes."

Magnus cat-like pupils widened minutely, his hand still awkwardly placed on Robert's shoulder, his breath caught up in his throat at the shadowhunter's sudden confession.

"It was war, Robert," he repeated, voice tired, resigned. "It's over now, thank the gods. Besides, we had agreed to leave this behind us for Max's sake."

"Indeed we had," Robert nodded, taking a deep breath, as if the oxygen he'd just inhaled could consume the regret that burned in his chest. "But I never apologized to you, Magnus. I never told you that, if I could, I'd give back all the lives I ended prematurely, at the cost of my own, if it were necessary."

"You have now," Magnus reassured after a moment of silence, still taken aback by Robert's rush of sincerity. "That's enough."

Suddenly, and out of the same place that this sudden need of honesty had come from, Robert took grip of Magnus' hand on his shoulder and pulled the warlock forward to embrace him tightly, as if he needed the touch to keep himself together, to anchor his rushing mind.

"I'm proud of Alexander," Robert said in something that sounded suspiciously like a sob. "And I'm proud of you, Magnus. You've done so much with so little that it makes me wonder… it makes me wonder where you'd be if it weren't for jerks like me that stood in your way."

Letting out a breath of air that he wasn't even conscious of holding, Magnus relaxed into the touch, flabbergasted-ly raising his own arm to circle Robert's shoulders.

"Thank you," was all he managed, his voice thick with emotion. "Thank you, Robert."

A long time passed before Robert stepped back, clearing his throat as if he had suddenly remembered that such a way wasn't one in which the Inquisitor was allowed to act. Magnus let him do, not wanting to be the first one to break the improvised embrace, perhaps fearing that, if he did, he'd break whatever spell that was making Robert so… open. And perhaps, because, he, too, was tired of that semi-civil attitude he felt whenever he was around Alexander's father and wanted something… more.

"Thank you," Robert echoed with an awkward smile, clearing his throat once again. "Now, Max is in the library. I think I have held you up enough."

"Not to worry," Magnus brushed off carelessly. "It was… good that you did."

Robert made a face, as if he couldn't decide whether or not if Magnus was being sarcastic, but in the end he decided to let it go and not make a comment, turning towards the living room instead.

"Robert," Magnus stopped him, his right hand firmly wrapped around Robert's wrist, to which the shadowhunter turned over his shoulder. "We're free next Saturday, why don't you come over? Just the four of us?"

"I would like that," Robert smiled tentatively.

"Good. So would we," the warlock added sincerely.

He wanted Max to have the stable he had lacked of as a child, that was all Magnus had been certain of from the beginning, and he was willing to make whatever sacrifice it took to ensure that. On the other hand, Magnus also knew how devastating losing one's parents support was and he didn't want that, let alone for Max, but for Alexander.

Sure enough, Robert Lightwood hadn't been the best of people, not to him, at least, but Magnus knew how important his parents ―his whole family― were to Alexander.

More importantly, Robert ―and Maryse too, in her own way― was trying to make amends, to fix his previous mistakes. The gods knew there'd been a time in which Magnus would have sacrificed anything just for the chance to change the way in which things between his stepfather and him had ended, and if he could do anything to spare Alexander even the smallest of rejections or aches by forgiving Robert and Maryse Lightwood… well, his pride wasn't bigger than his love for Alexander.

It was a chance―a new road that both downworlders and shadowhunters were building, side by side. It was an opportunity―to forgive, to let go, to accept and to start again.

And Magnus Bane was eager to take it, for it was, too, a chance to finally be happy and find a place where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so... this is definitely one of my favorite chapters. It's sweet, there was character development (I'm telling you, ever since I started this story Robert has insisted in appearing! I just hope you're liking the result!) and it has Hurt/Comfort.
> 
> To make up for Rafael's absence the next chapter will be dedicated exclusively to him! Please stay with me for more Lightwood-Bane Family fluff and read you soon!


	17. Who Would Have Thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there's no need for fancy introduction for this little something, it's just some fluff with Alec and Rafe just after his adoption, at the end Maryse makes an appearence.
> 
> I really hope you like it!

There were times in which Alec saw how different he and Magnus were―he wasn't even talking about the obvious differences anymore, not about the fact that they were from different species or about Magnus' magic. Oh no, he was talking about their personalities―how Magnus loved the attention, always having the perfect reply for everything in the tip of his tongue, welcoming guests with a charming smile, making introductions just so that their visitants could immediately hook up in casual a conversation.

Conversely, Alec was not like that. At all.

Alec didn't know how to plan a party for two hundred people, he didn't know what kind of music his guests were more likely to enjoy and he could differentiate between ivory and white.

Over the years, he'd learned to a wear a polite smile at the parties Magnus dragged him to ―or at the ones his husband decided to organize, too―, smile that only turned genuine when he stared back at a laughing Magnus or at their children. He'd also found ways to offer his beloved warlock a barter in favor of leaving sooner from social gatherings.

Although, at the time, none of it was going to work, as this was Clary and Jace's engagement party and Alec had no way out.

He pushed the thought away, snorting―he was actually enjoying this party, even if it was only because the Institute was filled with his loved ones and, wherever he looked in the spacious dining room, all he could see was family―warlocks, werewolves, vampires and shadowhunters alike.

However, either fortunately or unfortunately ―Alec still wasn't sure―, it seemed that Rafael, the shadowhunter boy Magnus and he had adopted only a few months in the past, would take after him.

"Dad, can we go home?" he asked in a small voice, tugging at Alec's sleeve. Before answering, Alec took a moment to savor the way in which Rafe had called him, the way his little boy had called their apartment.

Sure, there had still been an insecure undertone to the words 'Dad' and 'home', but the lexemes were there, and that was all that matted to Alec, as Rafael had only called Magnus and him 'papa' or 'dad' on a handful of occasions. He'd never referred to their loft as 'home'.

"Hey," Alec replied, beaming at the child as he kneeled to be eye-level with him. "What is it? You don't like it here?"

"Noisy," was all Rafe said, his small hands going up to cover his ears. Alec smiled at the scene, both fondly and humorously―the first one, because he marveled at how much and how fast he'd learned to love the child in front of him; the second one because he couldn't believe how much Rafael resembled a younger version of him, wanting to stay away from the hustle and bustle while Isabelle ―or, in Rafe's case, a laughing Max― became the center of everyone's attention.

"We can't go home yet, buddy," Alec said, gently placing his hands on Rafael's shoulder. Before he saw the boy's face fall in disappointment, he quickly added. "But I'll tell you a secret―I think it's rather noisy here too."

"You… you do?" his boy all but whispered, surprised and relieved at the same time.

"Of course I do," he affirmed. "We should keep Uncle Simon away from that guitar for a looong time, don't you think?"

Instead of answering, Rafael offered a shy smile.

"I'll tell you what," Alec continued. "I'll show you a secret place where you can always go whenever you want to be alone for a while, okay? Would you like that?"

After a few seconds, eyes a little wary, his action still timid, Rafael nodded. Alec offered him the kindest smile he could manage.

"C'mere," he said, opening his arms for Rafael, and waiting until the younger shadowhunter stepped forward to wrap them around him, securing the boy as he stood up again.

Discretely, Alec proceeded to leave the dining room, supporting Rafael with his right hip, both of his arms circling the little boy.

―*―*―

It had been probably passed an hour since their disappearance when Alec heard the door of the library being opened. He didn't even raise his head, eyes trained on the boy that slept soundly next to him, on the every same couch Max, his brother, and he had used as a surrogate bed in the past.

"I knew you'd be here," he heard his mother say from behind him.

"Rafe was getting tired," he answered, absentmindedly playing with the dark locks of his little boy. "He said it was too loud."

"And can you blame him?" Maryse laughed, walking over so she faced Alec. "My, that Simon boy and his guitar, the Angel knows what your sister saw in him!"

Shrugging, Alec could only offer her a smile.

"If you want to go back to the party I could stay with him, you know?" Maryse said after a few silent minutes.

It was a relief, Alec thought, that he actually considered Maryse's offer as an option. It had been three years since Max's adoption, and he still marveled ―would for the rest of his life, probably― at how much his relationship with his parents had improved.

Robert and Maryse had certainly made mistakes in the past, no one was denying that, but he was not above them in that department, and if Alec was positive on something, then all he knew was that his parents loved Max and Rafe in the same genuine way Magnus and he did. It was plain to see once one realized the tender fondness with which Maryse and Robert looked at their grandchildren.

He smiled. Five years in the past he wouldn't have dared dream something like this would be possible.

"Thanks, mom," he replied. "But I want to be here in case he wakes up."

He didn't mention the nightmares that had plagued Rafael's sleep ever since he had found him, terrified and trembling in Argentina. He didn't have to, either, as Maryse simply understood and returned a knowing smile.

"I bet it was becoming a little loud for you too, wasn't it?" she inquired, a gentle hand on Alec's shoulder, no malice in her voice. "It's been years since the last time you came here to hide, I feel a little old!"

"Parties have never been my thing," Alec shrugged nonchalantly.

"But they clearly are Magnus', aren't they?" she laughed. "I find it cute that you two are opposites in so many ways."

"Mom!" he scolded quietly, trying to pretend he wasn't blushing.

"No, I mean it!" Maryse insisted. "You complement each other," she assured, squeezing her son's shoulder gently. And just like that Alec's heart swelled at the simplicity with which his mother had spoken, as if it were something as natural as speaking about the weather or the party being held a few rooms away. He smiled―contently, genuinely.

"I'll bring you a blanket," Maryse offered, as she broke eye-contact once it was made clear that the depth of what Alec felt couldn't be conveyed with words, her eyes now focused on the jacket Alec had taken off to cover Rafael.

"Thanks, mom, for… for everything," he managed. She winked an eye at him, apparently knowing that he meant much more than the offering of fetching him extra clothing.

"I won't tell him you're here," Maryse promised at last, letting go of Alec's shoulder, the same words she'd addressed him with years in the past, except for the fact that, before, she had been referring to Robert instead of Magnus. "Though he'll probably know anyways."

Raising his hands in surrender, Alec shrugged.

"I'll be right back," Maryse said before closing the door behind her, her chuckles still plain obvious in her voice.

"Take your time," Alec replied, although it was more an instinctive reflex, as his mother had already left the room.

It had taken time, that much was for sure, he pondered, turning to face Rafael's sleeping figure once more. The changes ―the acceptance, the relief, the belonging― had come so slowly, bit by bit, but here they were now. Finally.

Who would have thought, Alec smiled, gently playing with Rafael's dark locks as he recalled a time in which he'd considered the mere possibility of him having a family as futile hope. Who would have thought.

And like that, remembering the concerns and terror that had kept a seventeen-year-old him awake during countless nights, Alec allowed himself to laugh―lightheartedly, genuinely, deeply, only for the sake of laughing.

Oh, who would have thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so, sadly, I cannot give you a date as for when the next update will be, you've seen how bad that turns out for me. All I can say is that I will not abandon this series and that I still have something like ten more chapters planned, so even if it's just some sporadical updating, you will still get your fluff, don't worry!
> 
> Thanks for reading and, if you want to remind me that I'm not updating this or just tell me how you liked this chapter, share a prompt, please feel free to comment below!
> 
> Read you soon!

**Author's Note:**

> And? What do you think? Please let me know your opinions in the comments!
> 
> Read you soon!


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